Lawyers in Jeopardy for Using ChatGPT to Write Court Submissions

Lawyers in Jeopardy for Using ChatGPT to Write Court Submissions

Some attorneys used ChatGPT to generate motion papers that were submitted to a federal court. Apparently, ChatGPT tried to hard to draft a winning brief, that it fabricated non-existent legal authority to bolster the argument. Unsurprisingly, the Judge picked up on the non-existent nature of the cited authority. Now, the attorneys are facing sancations (i.e., fines and potentially other punishment) for this. I have appeared before the Judge involved, and he is of the "no nonsense" variety and could very well deal harshly with these attorneys. So much of what ChatGPT generates is junk. That junk may be amusing, but using it for legal submissions is not advisable (just like I would not want my doctor to come up with treatment plans by handing judgment and thought over to a mindless AI).

Here is a link to the news article: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/30/chatgpt-cited-bogus-cases-for-a-new-york-federal-court-filing.html