In a dramatic turn of events, a US judge has imposed sanctions on two New York lawyers for their use of an artificial intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT, in a court brief. The lawyers, Steven Schwartz and Peter LoDuca, along with their law firm, Levidow, Levidow & Oberman, were ordered to pay a total fine of $5,000. The judge found them guilty of acting in bad faith and making false and misleading statements to the court, stating that they had consciously avoided the truth.
The law firm, however, maintains that it made an honest mistake in trusting technology to generate accurate legal citations. Schwartz admitted to utilizing ChatGPT for research purposes without realizing that the AI had produced fictitious case citations. While Avianca, the defendant in the case, commended the court’s decision to dismiss the personal injury lawsuit, they emphasized that the lawyers’ use of AI was not the determining factor.
The judge clarified that lawyers can seek assistance from AI in their work, but they bear the responsibility of ensuring the accuracy of their filings. The sanctioned lawyers were further instructed to inform the real authors of the fake cases about the imposed sanctions.
This case raises important questions about the ethical use of AI in the legal profession and highlights the need for lawyers to exercise caution and adhere to professional standards when utilizing emerging technologies for legal research and drafting court documents.