A justice inquired, ‘Counsel, do you watch the news?’ after a lawyer admitted to relying on ChatGPT without fully comprehending the risks involved.
New Mexico’s Supreme Court has penalized an attorney for incorporating AI-generated fabricated witnesses and false police testimony into an appeal related to his client’s murder conviction, as reported by Reuters. In a filing made on Wednesday, the court fined Stephen Aarons $5,000 and held him in contempt for neglecting to “verify the factual claims and legal authority in his AI-generated brief.”
The court’s filing indicated that the brief “contained false testimony from wholly fabricated witnesses,” alongside incorrect details about the shooter’s clothing and appearance. During an August hearing, Justice C. Shannon Bacon challenged how Aarons remained oblivious to the dangers of AI, noting he had used ChatGPT to create a “bulletproof summary” of the trial. “Counsel, do you watch the news? Do you listen to the radio? Do you read anything about what’s going on in the world?” Bacon asked, as reported by Reuters. “Because the issue with lawyers relying on AI hallucinations is a prominent story every single day.”
As the usage of AI tools among legal professionals grows, so does the frequency of discovering citations that are fabricated—or hallucinated—by the technology. Last year, a judge reprimanded two law firms for submitting a brief containing “numerous false, inaccurate, and misleading legal citations and quotations,” while lawyers representing MyPillow’s Mike Lindell also faced fines for using AI-generated misquotes and fake citations.
“I am remorseful but hopeful that the disciplinary board takes into account it was an honest mistake,” Aarons stated in a response to Reuters.
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