Lawyer’s ChatGPT Use Produces Filing with Nonexistent Legal Citations

A lawyer in New York has been accused of filing a submission replete with citations to non-existent cases in a recent case. Plaintiff’s counsel in Mata v. Avianca, Inc. has been ordered to show cause as to why he should not be sanctioned. Six of the submitted cases appear to be bogus judicial decisions with bogus quotes and citations. The lawyer in question, who had 30 years of practice experience, claimed that he was relying on another lawyer at his firm who used an online legal research program called ChatGPT. ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence program designed to assist users with legal research. The lawyer admitted that he had never used ChatGPT for any professional purpose before the case in question and had misunderstood how the platform works. He stated that, based on his erroneous understanding of how ChatGPT worked, he had used the program to try and find additional case law to support their arguments. He did not realise that ChatGPT was capable of fabricating entire citations or judicial opinions. Sanctions have yet to be announced.