A lawyer involved in a lawsuit against an airline has expressed his regret for using an AI language model, ChatGPT, in his work after it was found to have cited non-existent cases. The legal team for Roberto Mata, who is suing Avianca for injury suffered on a flight, pointed to previous court rulings that backed their client’s stance. However, the cited cases did not exist. In a subsequent affidavit, lawyer Steven A. Schwartz said ChatGPT had been used to supplement the research process. The suit centres on an incident in which Mata claimed a serving cart hit his knee during a flight to New York.
Avianca is a Colombian airline, established in 1919. The company has been beset by financial difficulties in recent years, including labour disputes, while the coronavirus pandemic has had a further negative impact on the business.
Steven A. Schwartz is a lawyer with New York law firm Levidow, Levidow & Oberman. His specialisms include commercial litigation, employment practices and environmental law. Schwartz had referred to ChatGPT in order to strengthen his research for the Mata case.
