Enforceability of E-Contracts in the Age of Generative AI

The quick development of generative artificial intelligence has started to impact the way contracts are formed, negotiated, and enforced. What was initially an easy move from paper-based to electronic agreements, has transitioned into a paradigm in which AI tools can draft, interpret, and even agree to contract terms autonomously. This paper looks at the enforceability of e-contracts in that AI-derived setting, and particularly examines the threat that generative AI poses to foundational principles of the law of contract, namely, consent, intention, and liability. For context in India, we can refer to the Indian Contract Act, 1872 and the Information Technology Act, 2000, which provide a base for e-contracts, but do nothing to discuss AI’s autonomous role in contract formation. By exploring these gaps, the analysis highlights uncertainty over authorship, attribution, and jurisdiction in AI mediated agreements. While traditional doctrines provide a starting point, the complexity of AI use pushes the boundaries of reliance on age-old principles. The paper ends with a pathway forward. Through legislative change to underpin the goals of fairness, accountability and enforceability, an empirical examination of reliability and the development of trust through authentication, capacity development of the judiciary, and countries cooperating on contract law at a more global level with anchoring principles, we can protect contract law in this time of intelligent automation.