Student sues Jindal Global Law School after university fails him for using 88% AI-generated content in exams

An LLM student of the Jindal Global Law School has sued the university for failing him over using AI-generated content for exams.

On Monday, November 4, the Punjab and Haryana High Court asked for a response from OP Jindal Global University over the petition filed by the student.

The petition was filed by Kausttubh Shakkarwar, who is pursuing a Master of Law (LLM) in Intellectual Property and Technology Laws at the Jindal Global Law School.

Shakkarwar has worked as a law researcher with the Chief Justice of India. According to a report by Bar and Bench, he also has an AI litigation platform and specialises in intellectual property law.

On May 18, Shakkarwar appeared for the first-term examinations and submitted his answers for the end-term examination on the topic‘Law and Justice in the Globalizing World,’ it added.

According to the Unfair Means Committee, he was accused of submitting 88 per cent of AI-generated answers and failing the exam on June 25. The Controller of Examinations also upheld this decision.

Following this, Shakkarwar sued the college, saying there is no specific restriction on using AI-generated content.

“The university is silent to state that use of AI would amount to ‘plagiarism’, and thus, the petitioner cannot be prosecuted for what is not explicitly prohibited,” the report said, quoting advocate Prabhneer Swani, who moved the plea in the court.

He also claimed that Shakkarwar's answers were original and not generated by AI. The plea alleged that the university had not provided any evidence to support its claim.

He sought a declaration saying that there is no copyright. He also stated that AI was used as a means to an end and to prevent plagiarism; copyright violation must be proved first.

“Section 2(d)(vi) of the Copyright Act, 1957, makes it amply clear that, arguendo, if the Petitioner did even use AI, the copyright of the artistic work would lie with the petitioner, and thus the allegation of violation of copyright, fails,” Shakkarwar cited according to the report.