Heads of the Public Prosecutors’ Offices from nine BRICS countries (including India) have endorsed a declaration to promote the ethical and safe use of artificial intelligence (AI) in law enforcement and legal systems. The declaration urges adoption of new technologies to enhance speed, efficiency, and accuracy in investigations and judicial processes, while ensuring safeguards for due process, human rights, fairness, and accountability.
The document lays out seven commitments, including strengthening national AI regulation for prosecutorial tools, expanding cooperation to reduce digital capacity gaps, deploying training for legal professionals, and ensuring oversight and liability mechanisms for both developers and users of AI in the justice system.
This declaration is meaningful for India because it signals a push among major emerging economies toward harmonising rules for AI in criminal justice. For institutions like the Ministry of Home Affairs and agencies such as the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and state-level public prosecutors, it raises pressure to prepare legal frameworks, build technical capacity, and engage in BRICS-level cooperation. Adoption of such standards could help India leverage AI for crime detection, while guarding against algorithmic bias, misuse, or rights violations.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders:
How can India balance the opportunities of AI-enabled prosecution with the risks of cross-border cybercrime, data sovereignty concerns, and interoperability of digital evidence within BRICS legal systems
Follow the full news here: BRICS Prosecutors Endorse Declaration on Artificial Intelligence in Combating Crime / InfoBRICS
