A New York attorney and his law firm are set to face a court hearing after it was discovered that fabricated legal papers had been submitted as evidence in a case. The incident began after a man sued an airline for personal injuries and his lawyers provided documents citing several previous legal decisions, which they attempted to use as a precedent for his case to proceed. However, the airline’s lawyers informed the judge that several of the cases mentioned could not be found. Investigation revealed that the research was conducted using ChatGPT, an advanced language model capable of generating human-like responses to various prompts. The court ordered a hearing on June 8 to assess whether the attorney should face disciplinary action along with his law firm. ChatGPT has gained popularity for its natural language processing since its launch in November 2022.
ChatGPT is an advanced language model capable of generating human-like responses to various prompts. It was developed by OpenAI and launched in November 2022. The model is trained on massive amounts of internet text data and can generate coherent text in response to a given prompt. It has gained popularity due to its ability to interpret complex natural language queries and provide accurate responses.
The attorney involved in this incident is Steven A. Schwartz, a seasoned lawyer with over 30 years of experience. Schwartz had admitted that he used ChatGPT to look up similar past cases. He explained in a written statement that he had originally filed the case in state court, but the airline had it transferred to Manhattan’s federal court, where he was not eligible to practice. His colleague, LoDuca, became the attorney of record, but Schwartz stated that he went on with the legal research, and his colleague had no role in it.
In conclusion, this incident serves as a reminder of the importance of maintaining ethical conduct in the legal profession. The use of advanced technology like ChatGPT in legal research can lead to unintended consequences if not used with caution. It is essential for attorneys to ensure that they verify the information obtained through such models and to ensure its accuracy before presenting it as evidence in a case.
