AI Revolutionizes Indian Justice and Healthcare Systems
On his inaugural day inside a courtroom, Arghya Bhattacharya was struck not by the solemnity of the law but by the overwhelming presence of paper. "There were towering stacks of paper everywhere. You could enter record rooms and detect the scent of decaying paper. Outside, individuals were still relying on typewriters—not even keyboards. Within the courts, more tasks were being handled on paper than on computers," he remarked during a recent event organized by the EkStep Foundation.
Adalat AI: Streamlining Judicial Workflows
In 2023, collaborating with Utkarsh Saxena, a former Supreme Court law clerk, Arghya established Adalat AI to develop a technological framework aimed at reducing delays, optimizing workflows, and enhancing accessibility. A significant bottleneck in court proceedings is the scarcity of stenographers. "Nearly every spoken word must be documented... judges frequently write everything manually, which decelerates processes and introduces potential errors," Arghya explained.
Adalat AI's transcription engine comprehends legal terminology, diverse Indian accents, and supports twelve languages, ensuring accuracy in transcription without loss of detail. The company has additionally engineered a court workflow system where voice-activated AI enables judges to navigate digital files and verbally dictate orders. Paperless filing mechanisms diminish dependence on typing, while WhatsApp-integrated chatbots assist citizens in tracking case progress without navigating intricate government websites. "Judges utilizing this technology report substantial time savings, allowing them to concentrate on essential judicial duties," Arghya noted.
AI-Powered Tumor Board for Oncology
When his aunt received a breast cancer diagnosis, Ashish Makani observed firsthand the distress patients and caregivers endure while grappling with complex medical jargon, disjointed records, and challenging treatment choices. This experience served as a pivotal moment, directing him toward endeavors merging technology, machine learning, and medicine.
An engineering graduate and current consultant at Ashoka University, Ashish has devised an AI-driven tumor board to tackle one of oncology's foremost structural issues—limited access to multidisciplinary expertise. A tumor board typically comprises cancer specialists such as medical, surgical, and radiation oncologists, radiologists, and pathologists, who convene to assess intricate cancer cases.
However, assembling such specialists is often arduous. Consequently, Ashish is constructing multiple specialized AI agents to emulate the collaborative reasoning of these experts. The system is engineered to organize medical data, highlight clinically pertinent insights, and facilitate more informed decision-making. It leverages subspecialty guidelines, including those from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. The agents engage in deliberation, contest each other's findings, and synthesize recommendations—mirroring the dynamics of an actual clinical discussion.
Although the platform remains under development, it has already garnered attention from academic and clinical stakeholders, including researchers affiliated with Harvard Medical School.
10BedICU: Enhancing Critical Care with AI
In government hospitals, physicians and nurses in bustling Intensive Care Units frequently grapple with balancing patient care against escalating documentation requirements. Srikanth Nadhamuni's 10BedICU program now employs AI across various processes to address these challenges.
The 10BedICU initiative, launched in 2021, strives to fortify critical care capacity in public hospitals. To date, 216 10BedICUs have been established across ten states. The state government provides hospital space, medical personnel, supplies, utilities, and signs a Memorandum of Understanding to manage operational expenses, whereby 10BedICU covers capital expenditure by supplying ICU equipment, a software platform named CARE, teleICU technology, training, and community support.
The latest AI tools integrated into the CARE platform execute multiple functions:
- They permit doctors and nurses to speak in their native language while AI automatically records and structures patient information into electronic medical records.
- They assist nurses who may lack immediate access to specialists. Nurses can pose queries in local languages and receive responses grounded in validated standard ICU protocols embedded in the system, reducing reliance on generic online information and boosting confidence in clinical judgments.
- They automatically generate discharge summaries utilizing existing patient data, conserving hours of manual labor and ensuring more seamless continuity of care.
These innovations collectively signify a transformative shift toward efficiency and accessibility in India's judicial and healthcare sectors, driven by cutting-edge artificial intelligence solutions.
