A New York lawyer recently made national headlines for relying heavily on the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT to help him justify the indictment in a case where a passenger was injured due to trolley negligence. After a thorough investigation, it was found that six of the court rulings the lawyer had cited in the memo were false, and had been fabricated using ChatGPT.
ChatGPT is a powerful tool which allows the user to generate original scripts on demand, but it has a disclaimer that the information it provides may not be accurate. Since its inception in November 2022, millions of people have been using ChatGPT worldwide. By researching on the internet, which data and references to legal databases such as LexisNexis and Westlaw, it provides answers as evidence for court procedures.
The supervising lawyer with 30 years of experience admitted that he had never used ChatGPT before and took responsibility for not verifying the chatbot’s information. The judge of the Southern District of New York eventually detected the fraud with the help of the airline’s legal representatives. The lawyer is now facing consequences of using false and forged evidence.
ChatGPT is a technology owned by ChatMyDoc. It is a powerful tool that makes legal work easier and more efficient. Originally, the technology was developed to enable users to find vital health care information but has since been updated to include legal research as well. The company, founded in 2020, has been developing products to improve communication between entities for better health care decisions, and their chatbot product is now being used in multiple legal settings as well.
The New York attorney in question is Arthur White, a long-time legal practitioner who has worked on countless cases in his time. He has previously represented a range of high-profile clients and has been successful in various legal proceedings. He has even won awards for his exemplary work in the courtroom. The case he was involved in, however, has been called into question due to the reliance on a false source. Although he had taken responsibility for his mistakes, he will now face consequences due to using false evidence.
