New York lawyer Stevens A. Schwartz has apologized for referencing false legal cases generated by an AI-powered chatbot. Schwartz and another lawyer, Peter LoDuca, expressed remorse for using non-existent precedent cases in a lawsuit against an airline company. During a two-hour-long hearing, Judge P. Kevin Castel questioned Schwartz on his use of fabricated cases. The Tribeca law firm, Levidow, Levidow & Oberman, lawyers apologized for relying on the AI chatbot, which they believed contained inaccessible cases.
Schwartz admitted to assuming the technology worked like a regular search engine, but did not realize it could generate fabricated cases. He believed that the laws produced by the AI were available from sources that were either unpublished or inaccessible. Schwartz was representing a client who was suing an airline company for injury after a metal serving cart hit his knee during a flight in 2022. The fake cases Schwartz presented to the court as supporting evidence included Miller vs. United Airlines, Petersen vs Iran Air, and Varghese vs. China Southern Airlines.
Judge Castel described the cited cases as legal gibberish. LoDuca relied on Schwartz’s research and initially assumed all the cases were genuine. It was later discovered that the cases had never existed. The lawyers for the airline company notified Castel about the false evidence, who subsequently called Schwartz to the court to defend his actions.
Schwartz stated that he had never been involved in anything like this before, and he was embarrassed and humiliated by the widespread publicity. Castel has yet to rule on a possible sanction, but Schwartz ensured the court that nothing like this would happen again. He tearfully apologized to the judge, the defendants, his firm, and the court.
The incident raises concerns about the reliability of AI technology and its potential impact on the legal profession. Lawyers may use chatbots for legal research to save time and access documents not available on traditional search engines. However, this incident highlights the importance of ethical considerations when using AI technology in the legal industry.
The repercussions for Schwartz’s reliance on the chatbot’s false cases will be determined at a later date by Judge Castel.
