Lawyer Faces Sanctions for Citing Fake Cases on ChatGPT in Court

In an unusual turn of events, a lawyer has used an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot to prepare a filing for court that contained fake cases. The incident occurred when the lawyer of a man suing an airline for personal injury used the ChatGPT chatbot by OpenAI to get copies of case documents. The airline’s lawyers could not find some of the documents referred to, so requested more information and discovered the cases were fake. A judge in New York called it an unprecedented circumstance and has ordered the lawyer to explain why he should not face sanctions. The incident has raised concerns among legal professionals about the risks of relying on AI in the legal field and whether people should be allowed to use AI to draft court documents. However, the incident has also highlighted the potential risks of these AI chatbots in other fields, such as politics or education, where they could be used to generate fake information or help people cheat.