Lawyers fined $5,000 for submitting fraudulent legal opinions created by the artificial intelligence tool, ChatGPT
A New York judge has imposed a fine of $5,000 on Levidow, Levidow & Oberman, P.C., a law firm, for submitting bogus case laws in court. According to Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, the lawyers and their full-service litigation firm, submitted fictitious judicial opinions bearing counterfeit quotes and citations created by ChatGPT, an AI technology tool.
The firm continued to stand by their fraudulent opinions even after their authenticity was questioned by the court. In the statement issued by the law firm, they acknowledged being wrong and pledged to abide by the order. The statement read, “We respectfully disagree with the finding that anyone at our firm acted in bad faith. We have already apologized to the Court and our client. We continue to believe that in the face of what even the Court acknowledged was an unprecedented situation, we made a good faith mistake in failing to believe that a piece of technology could be making up cases out of whole cloth.”
The court found the law firm’s actions to be a complete abandonment of their professional responsibilities, thereby, breaching the regulations. The firm was caught submitting non-existent judicial opinions in an attempt to mislead the court, and when challenged with evidence, failing to retract their statements.
The incident has provoked concerns over the use of AI technology and the potential for its misuse. While AI tools serve as a massive help in research, intelligence, automation, and data analysis, there exists a possibility of manipulation in the wrong hands.
However, this instance serves as a warning to lawyers and citizens alike—every action bears an outcome, and there are no ‘shortcuts’ to justice. The law exists to serve, uphold, and restore justice where it has been denied. Falsehood and deception in the legal process undermine the integrity of the whole system and hurt those seeking justice.
In conclusion, the law firm’s fine serves as an example of taking responsibility for mistakes and failing to commit fraudulent practices in the legal system. The usage of AI in legal research and document preparation has many benefits, but firms must use it responsibly and ethically. Only by doing so, can the legal system maintain its integrity and the trust of the people it serves.
