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Title: ChatGPT-Using Lawyer Cited Its Fake Witnesses and Police Testimony in
Court

Link: https://slashdot.org/story/26/09/14/0611201/c...

Reuters reports: A defense lawyer appealing his client's murder conviction
submitted a brief containing made-up police testimony and witnesses
fabricated by OpenAI's ChatGPT, New Mexico's highest court said. The New
Mexico Supreme Court on Wednesday fined the attorney, Stephen Aarons [for
$5,000], and held him in contempt for failing to verify the accuracy of the
court filing, which Aarons said he prepared with help from the AI program...
and said they will refer him to an attorney disciplinary board for
investigation. Aarons in a statement to Reuters said he had used ChatGPT to
summarize the trial proceedings when he agreed to take up the defendant's
appeal last year, and did not understand the degree to which AI could
"hallucinate" facts. "I am remorseful but hopeful that the disciplinary board
takes into account it was an honest mistake," he said.... Dozens of lawyers
have been sanctioned for filing briefs where AI made up case citations or
misquoted the law. Aarons' filing appears to have gone further, containing
fabricated witness testimony in a criminal appeal... Aarons told the court at
an August 21 hearing that he fed a computer-generated transcript and other
case materials to ChatGPT, presuming it would generate "a bulletproof
summary." The justices sounded incredulous that Aarons was not fully aware of
how AI can make mistakes. "Counsel, do you watch the news? Do you listen to
the radio? Do you read anything about what's going on in the world?" Justice
C. Shannon Bacon said at the hearing. "Because the problem with lawyers
relying on AI hallucinations is an above-the-fold story every single day."
"OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment."

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