Artificial Intelligence-Enabled Cybercrime: Rethinking Criminal Liability, Digital Evidence And Cyber Law In India
- IJLLR Journal
- 5 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Eshan Singhal, Ph.D., Research Scholar, Faculty of Law, Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Agra
Dr. Shiti Kanth Dubey, Professor, Faculty of Law, Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Agra
ABSTRACT
Artificial intelligence has fundamentally transformed the technological environment in which cybercrime is conceived, executed and investigated. Generative artificial intelligence, large language models, deepfake systems, automated vulnerability discovery, synthetic identities and AI-assisted social engineering can substantially increase the speed, scale and sophistication of criminal activity. At the same time, the increasing autonomy of artificial intelligence creates difficult questions concerning attribution, mens rea, causation, criminal participation and evidentiary reliability. This paper examines the emerging phenomenon of artificial intelligence-enabled cybercrime from an Indian doctrinal and comparative legal perspective. It evaluates the extent to which the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 can address offences committed or substantially facilitated through artificial intelligence. The paper distinguishes between AI-assisted, AI-enhanced, AI-automated and increasingly autonomous cybercrime and argues that the degree of technological involvement has direct implications for attribution and criminal responsibility. It further examines emerging challenges involving deepfake fraud, automated phishing, synthetic identities, AI-generated malware, financial deception and manipulation of digital evidence. A comparative analysis of the European Union's risk-based artificial-intelligence regulatory framework, the United Kingdom's approach and selected United States developments is undertaken to identify regulatory lessons for India. The paper argues that Indian cyber law does not presently require an entirely separate offence of "AI crime"; instead, it requires an adaptive framework addressing attribution, developer and deployer responsibility, evidence preservation, platform accountability and international cooperation. The study proposes an AI-Cybercrime Liability Framework based upon technological involvement, foreseeability, control, intent and resulting harm.
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Cybercrime; Generative AI; Digital Evidence; Cyber Law;
