AI is changing the world, from personalizing education to speeding up legal proceedings. Nepal is starting to have some serious conversations about how to bring AI into both classrooms and courtrooms. Sounds great, right? Smarter learning, fewer court delays, and even fewer “lost” files at government offices. But before we start imagining an AI-powered utopia, let’s take a step back and ask: Are we actually ready for this?
AI in Education: Smarter Learning or Just Smarter Cheating?
There’s no doubt that AI could make education better—adaptive learning, instant feedback, automated grading. No more teachers drowning in piles of homework, no more students struggling to keep up in one-size-fits-all lessons. Sounds perfect. Except… we all know what’s actually going to happen.
The minute AI becomes a classroom staple, half the students will be using it to actually learn, while the other half will figure out how to get ChatGPT to do their homework while they scroll TikTok. Teachers, instead of grading essays, will be busy trying to figure out if a real student wrote that beautifully worded analysis on Shakespeare—or if it was just AI flexing its literary muscles.
At a recent consultation on AI in education, officials, tech experts, and educators sat down to discuss what this all means for Nepal. Baikuntha Prasad Aryal from the Ministry of Education pointed out that we need to integrate AI into schools now if we don’t want to fall behind. But it’s not as simple as flipping a switch. Nepal has to make sure AI is being used to bridge gaps, not widen them. Because if we’re not careful, we’ll end up in a situation where fancy private schools have AI-powered tutors while public schools are still struggling with basic internet access.
Michael Croft from UNESCO put it best—if we don’t have a clear plan, we’ll be left with chaos. And honestly, Nepal has enough of that already.
AI in the Courts: A Fix for Legal Backlogs or a Future of Robot Judges?
Over in the legal world, AI is being pitched as the ultimate analytical person. Nepal’s court system has been drowning in backlogged cases for years, so AI could be a game changer. Imagine an AI-powered system organizing case files, scheduling hearings, and sorting through mountains of paperwork in seconds. The dream!
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. While AI is great at analyzing data, the law isn’t about data. It’s about human judgment, cultural context, and sometimes, the ability of a judge to stare at a witness until they crack under the pressure. Can AI do that? Probably not.
And then there’s the issue of bias. AI is only as good as the data it learns from. If we feed it outdated, biased legal precedents, it’s just going to spit out decisions that reinforce the same old problems. Also, let’s not forget—Nepal’s legal system deals with some wild cases. Imagine an AI judge trying to settle a property dispute over a sacred cow. Would it suggest a fair legal rule, or would it just start Googling “cow ownership laws” and crash from confusion?
Data security is another big concern. Nepal’s courts handle a lot of sensitive information. If AI systems aren’t built with proper safeguards, we could be looking at some serious privacy issues. The last thing we need is a legal database getting hacked and people’s private case details ending up who-knows-where.
So, What’s the Plan?
AI isn’t here to replace teachers or judges here to assist them. In schools, AI should make learning more engaging and personalized, not turn students into expert-level AI users who never actually study. In courts, AI should help speed up the system, not take over decision-making. Because the last thing Nepal needs is a court ruling delayed because the AI judge needed a software update.
If we do this right, AI could genuinely make Nepal’s education and legal systems faster, smarter, and fairer. But if we rush in without a plan, we could be looking at a future where students don’t actually learn, and AI judges accidentally hand out life sentences for traffic violations.
The future is exciting—but only if we don’t let AI run wild.
Inspired by:
- UNESCO’s consultation on AI in Nepal’s education system and how it could change learning experiences.
- Discussions from the Kathmandu Post on AI’s potential role in the judiciary while keeping human judgment at the center.
- The very real possibility of students using AI to “study” without actually learning anything.
- The even bigger possibility of AI judges completely misinterpreting Nepal’s very complex legal system.
