A New Mexico lawyer was fined $5,000 and held in contempt after submitting a court filing containing fabricated police testimony and fictional witnesses after using OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the state’s Supreme Court said.
The New Mexico Supreme Court said defence lawyer Stephen Aarons failed to verify the accuracy of material included in a brief filed while appealing his client’s murder conviction.
The filing “contained false testimony from wholly fabricated witnesses”, the court said. The justices also said Aarons had “demonstrated a lack of remorse and a lack of concern for his client”.
The court said it would refer Aarons to an attorney disciplinary board for investigation.
Aarons, a private attorney in Santa Fe, told Reuters he used ChatGPT to summarise trial proceedings after agreeing to handle the appeal last year.
He said he fed a computer-generated transcript and other case materials into ChatGPT, assuming it would produce a “bulletproof summary”.
Aarons said he did not understand the extent to which AI could “hallucinate” facts.
“I am remorseful but hopeful that the disciplinary board takes into account it was an honest mistake,” he said. “It is a lesson learned for all professionals who rely upon this powerful but sometimes unstable technology.”
OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
ChatGPT Generated Fictional Witness Details
The New Mexico Supreme Court had ordered Aarons to explain how fabricated material ended up in his primary brief in the murder appeal.
The court said some of the material appeared to include fictional statements that the shooter was wearing dark pants and a white shirt.
At an August 21 hearing, Justice C. Shannon Bacon questioned Aarons about the risks of relying on AI-generated material.
“Because the problem with lawyers relying on AI hallucinations is an above-the-fold story every single day,” Bacon said.
Aarons was representing Oscar Renee Sandoval, who was convicted last year and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of the mother of his children.
Sandoval had pleaded not guilty. His appeal remains pending and was assigned on September 2 to New Mexico public defender Kim Chavez Cook.
Source: Money Control
--Agencies
