LLM student sues Jindal Global Law School over AI use in exam

Shakkarwar’s legal team denied that he used AI in his original submission as noted by the AI detection tool turnitin [File]
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Lawyer and Jindal Global Law School (JGLS) student Kaustubh Shakkarwar has sued the university, moving a petition against it for failing him in an exam over alleged use of AI in his submission.

In the legal filing, Shakkarwar’s legal team denied that he used AI in his original submission as noted by the AI detection tool turnitin. The legal document also pointed out there was no explicit, institutional prohibition of the use of AI.

“[…] The Petitioner received an email from the “Unfair Means committee” which completely lacked reasoning with the words “UMC Case – Submission was 88% AI-generated” along with a PDF document, with no explanation, reasoning or allegation, but only a cryptic phrase,” said part of the legal brief, as another section questioned the idea that the use of AI amounts to plagiarism when it was not explicitly mentioned by the institution.

The petition further pointed out the weaknesses of the turnitin tool and its tendencies to produce false positives when detecting AI-generated text at times, which the company itself has addressed.

“This petition was drafted by Kaustubh Shakkarwar and argued by Prabhneer Swani with inputs from our former intern, Nitya Ranga. This will seek to set the law on AI and IP law, globally. We at KAS & Co || Advocates and Solicitors seek to push the boundaries of IP laws,” stated the law firm on LinkedIn on Monday (November 4, 2024).

Shakkarwar is also involved in the development of generative AI-powered tools for legal users, per his website.

“Since the issue is sub-judice we cannot make any comment about the case at this point. We will present our arguments in court and seek justice against O P Jindal Global University,” said advocate Prabhneer Swani in a statement to The Hindu.

The Hindu reached out to O P Jindal Global University for a statement, but did not receive a response.