Manupatra Launches India’s First Survey on AI Usage in the Legal Sector

New Delhi [India], June 2: Manupatra continues to be a leader in merging technology with the Indian legal domain. Through regular engagement with law professionals and students, we receive direct insight into how technological advancements are influencing legal work across the country.

Artificial intelligence has made its way into everyday activities in recent years, impacting personal and workplace routines alike. Within the legal profession, AI tools have brought value by making legal research faster, assisting with drafting, and simplifying case or contract management. However, incidents have occurred where AI-generated fictitious cases were mistakenly cited in legal arguments.

To explore this complex shift, Manupatra initiated a first-of-its-kind national survey to evaluate AI adoption across the Indian legal system. The survey gathered on-the-ground input from law students and professionals to uncover challenges and map out best practices for ethical, practical, and responsible AI use. The goal is to guide legal institutions, regulators, and firms toward well-informed, safer AI integration.

Manupatra is now publishing the results of its “Adoption of AI in the Indian Legal Landscape” report, compiled from responses by 227 participants—including advocates, students, in-house legal teams, partners, educators, and judges from across India.

Key Findings:

Youth-Led Response Base: 60% of respondents were aged between 18–34. Law students accounted for 36.6%, and practicing advocates 23.8%, reflecting a readiness among younger professionals to explore AI.
Early Implementation Patterns: Close to 60% of respondents had used AI tools in the last year—most often for legal research (77.9%), summarizing content (65.7%), and help with drafting (54.7%).
Time-Saving with Caution: While 79.7% reported improved efficiency in repetitive tasks, only 4.1% fully trusted AI outputs without human review. Nearly half (48.8%) require verification before using results.
Persistent Issues: 58.1% highlighted concerns about unreliable results, 51.2% mentioned hallucinated outputs, and 42.4% said most tools lacked relevance to India’s legal system.
Weak Governance Structures: Although 77.1% believe AI use should be disclosed in legal work, only 11% of workplaces have formal AI-related policies in place.

Challenges Identified:

Low Output Reliability (58.14%): Inconsistent accuracy and AI hallucinations continue to be major concerns.
Privacy and Data Protection (47.67%): Many users worry about maintaining confidentiality and data security when using AI tools.
Lack of Indian Legal Context (42.44%): Global AI models often misinterpret or overlook Indian law and precedent.
Accountability and Ethical Risks (38.37%): Participants voiced concerns about legal liability, bias, and maintaining professional responsibility.
Training Deficiencies and Awareness (40.12% & 34.30%): Respondents reported limited training opportunities and low tool awareness as adoption barriers.

Trends and Outlook:

Mainstream Adoption Timeline: 35.68% of participants expect AI to become a standard legal resource within 1–2 years, while only 3.96% think it will take over five years.
Mixed but Positive Sentiment: 46.25% have a largely positive view of AI’s impact, 18.06% see it as transformative, and 45.37% take a balanced approach, acknowledging benefits and risks.
Support Needed for Wider Use: Key enablers include structured training programs (67.40%), freemium or trial access (66.52%), and formal policy direction from courts or bar councils (47.58%).
Human + AI Collaboration: Most agree AI will support legal professionals in tasks like research and drafting, but final decisions will—and should—remain human-driven.

About Manupatra:

Manupatra is India’s leading platform for legal, regulatory, and business information solutions. Since pioneering online legal research in India in 2000, Manupatra has built the most extensive digital legal library in the country. The platform combines legal expertise with AI and machine learning to support law firms, the judiciary, corporate teams, government bodies, and students. With its cutting-edge technology and intuitive design, Manupatra remains the most trusted tool for accessing the law quickly and intelligently.