Lawyers have long been cautious of the rise and impact of AI chatbots, especially ChatGPT which has gained a reputation for being biased and fabricating information. In a recent case, a lawyer suffered a major blow of learning why this is the case. Stephen A. Schwartz, the defending lawyer in a lawsuit, submitted references that were false citations to the otherwise valid opposition to the defendant’s motion for dismissal. The judge took notice and asked Schwartz why he should not be sanctioned for attempting to falsify information, prompting his request for a lighter penalty.
In explanation, Schwartz revealed he used ChatGPT prior to submitting the motion. Due to its unwanted capabilities, the chatbot was able to fabricate information, leading to this disastrous incident. Reports of similar problems have been noticed in other AI chatbots such as Google’s Bard AI, which produced wrong quotes and citations from sections of a D.C. code that did not exist when asked about obscure traffic codes. It also created a troubling response when asked about a racial slur relating to the name of a well-known cat.
This incident is a reminder that even though AI technology is getting better, it is still not perfect. If researching a legal topic it is best to stick to the law rather than articles on websites such as Wikipedia. To err on the side of caution and minimize risk, any legal team should avoid using ChatGPT or similar AI chatbots.
The company mentioned in this article is Google LLC, which is an American multinational technology company specializing in Internet-related services and products. It is one of the largest technology companies in the world and operates in more than 40 countries. Google services include search engine, online advertising technologies, cloud computing, software, and hardware.
The person mentioned in this article is Stephen A. Schwartz, who is a lawyer practicing in the United States. His specialties are intellectual property, data privacy, and cybersecurity law. He is an experienced executive with experience from a variety of major corporations. He has extensive experience in advising on IP rights and in negotiating in the areas of privacy, technology, IP, and government contracts.
