Two lawyers and a law firm were each fined $5,000 by a federal judge for using ChatGPT to submit fictitious legal research.
Earlier this month, a Texas judge issued an order requiring attorneys to declare their commitment not to utilize ChatGPT or any artificial intelligence technology to draft legal briefs.
According to the judge, the attorneys and their law firm neglected their duties by submitting false judicial opinions. The brief allegedly contained fictitious quotes and citations, generated by the A.I. tool ChatGPT. Furthermore, the lawyers “continued to stand by the fake opinions” even after the inaccurate information was spotted.
“Technological advances are commonplace. And there is nothing inherently improper about using a reliable artificial intelligence tool for assistance,” Judge P. Kevin Castel wrote. “But existing rules impose a gatekeeping role on attorneys to ensure the accuracy of their filings.”
The law firm says it will comply with Castel’s order. However, the firm added “We respectfully disagree with the finding that anyone at our firm acted in bad faith. We have already apologized to the Court and our client.”
The statement continued, “We continue to believe that in the face of what even the Court acknowledged was an unprecedented situation. We made a good faith mistake in failing to believe that a piece of technology could be making up cases out of whole cloth.”
Nevertheless, the two lawyers have not spoken out about the matter. Meanwhile, the firm is considering appealing the judge’s decision to toss out the cases.
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