Chennai, Tamil Nadu: The Madras High Court on Wednesday, June 17, ruled that artificial intelligence tools and online classes cannot replace qualified lecturers in physical classrooms.

The court made the observation while refusing to grant relief to three law students who had fallen short of the mandatory attendance requirement. 

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The high court bench headed by Justices SM Subramaniam and N Senthilkumar observed that there are certain advantages that stem from regularly attending classes. “It goes beyond mere acquisition of knowledge. It instills values of self-discipline, punctuality, active classroom engagement, positive social behaviours etc,” the court stated, adding that the online classes therefore cannot be substituted with physical classrooms.

“Also, neither ChatGPT nor any other Al tool can ever be equated with a qualified lecturer,” the bench added. The court was hearing appeals filed by the Tamil Nadu Dr Ambedkar Law University against a single-judge order that had granted relief to the students.

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Artificial intelligence may come close to human intelligence, but cannot teach integrity and morality, which it described as ethical pillars of the legal profession, the court pointed out, underlining that such lessons can only be learnt in a vibrant classroom