A lawyer used ChatGPT to generate briefs that included completely made-up witnesses and testimony while representing a man accused of shooting his wife.
asserted
that → use → wife
When he was caught by the judges, the lawyer blamed it on his own “stupidity.”
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lawyer → catch → stupidity
“It's little comfort to know that my stupidity is what brings us together this afternoon,” New Mexico attorney Stephen D. Aarons said in a hearing last month before five judges.
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Aarons → know → judges
He “assumed” ChatGPT would generate a “bulletproof summary of proceedings.”
asserted
ChatGPT → assume → proceedings
Instead, ChatGPT generated false testimony from “wholly fabricated witnesses,” according to an order of direct contempt from the New Mexico Supreme Court.
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ChatGPT → generate → Court
Aarons was representing a man who was found guilty of killing his wife earlier this year; Aarons said he hadn’t told his client directly that he was caught using ChatGPT on the case because he’s currently serving life in prison.
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he → represent → prison
The false testimony included a nonexistent person named Danny Stanton saying he received threats, and another made-up person, Linda Stanton, saying her husband received threats.
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husband → include → threats
Other false testimony from more AI-generated people in Aarons’ brief included statements “regarding the shooter’s clothing and appearance,” according to the order.
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testimony → generate → order
Reuters reported on the case earlier this month.
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Reuters → report → case
"I am remorseful but hopeful that the disciplinary board takes into account it was an honest mistake," Aarons told Reuters.
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Aarons → take → Reuters
"It is a lesson learned for all professionals who rely upon this powerful but sometimes unstable technology."
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who → learn → technology
Aarons’ reasoning for trusting ChatGPT, he said in the August hearing, was that he’d heard of doctors using AI for medical research.
“
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doctors → trust → research
So, Council, do you watch the news?
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you → watch → news
Do you listen to the radio?
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you → listen → radio
Do you read anything about what's going on in the world?” one of the judges asked Aarons.
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one → read → Aarons
“Because the problem with lawyers relying on AI hallucinations is an above-the-fold story every single day.
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lawyers → rely → fold
The court documents were first spotted by Rob Freund on X.
Lawyers getting caught using AI and submitting errors to the court has been a big problem for years, and the judge is right: It’d be very hard to avoid hearing about this pattern of “stupidity” unless you were living under a rock.
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you → spot → rock
There has been case after case after case showing attorneys failing their clients by submitting error-riddled AI-generated documents in their filings, and are the definition of “you had one job:” in the case of AI-brained lawyers, they can’t seem to resist taking shortcuts regardless of how risky it is for their own careers and their clients lives.
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it → show → careers
Like in Aaron’s case, we sometimes get to hear and see judges go off on attorneys for this behavior.
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judges → get → behavior
In May, judges in the Supreme Court of the State of New York Appellate Division let several lawyers have it for more than 20 minutes about their AI use and laziness, and called their failures “striking, concerning, disappointing, and saddening.”
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lawyers → let → failures
And it’s not just lawyers anymore; court reporters are submitting AI-generated errors, too.
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reporters → ’ → errors
“So, either you buried your head in the sand.
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you → bury → sand
An intentional choice to be uninformed,” the judge continued to Aarons.
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judge → continue → Aarons
“Or, you took a gamble.
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you → take → gamble
So I'm really struggling with your response, saying, ‘Well, I didn't understand.
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I → struggle → response
I didn't know about hallucinations.’
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I → know → hallucinations
My 13-year-old nephew knows about hallucinations.
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nephew → know → hallucinations
My 75-year-old stepmother knows about hallucinations.
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stepmother → know → hallucinations
So, either you made a decision not to be aware of what's happening in the world in using this tool appropriately, which is a willful choice.
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which → make → tool
Or you decided to roll the dice.”
At the end of the hearing, Aarons admits that he hasn’t told his client directly about this mess, saying he’d only talked to his family members so far, telling them there was “a problem with the brief.”
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he → decide → brief
He said his client is hard to reach because he speaks Spanish and is in prison.
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he → say → prison
“So you didn't say, ‘I relied on ChatGPT, and it submitted lies to the court, and the court is mad at me, and now there's a hearing.’
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court → say → me
I'm guessing you didn't tell your client’s family members that,” a judge asked Aarons.
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judge → guess → Aarons
“I didn't talk about ChatGPT.
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I → talk → ChatGPT
I just said there was a problem with a brief that I filed,” Aarons said.
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Aarons → say → that
According to the order, the judges found Aarons to be in direct contempt of court, referred him to the Disciplinary Board for further consideration, and barred from appearing before the court pending the outcome of the board’s investigation.
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Aarons → accord → investigation
They also threw him off the case in question and assigned a public defender to his former client.
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They → throw → client
While he waits for the board to decide what to do with him, Aarons was sanctioned $5,000, which he must pay to the State Bar of New Mexico Client Protection Fund.
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he → wait → Fund
The Aporia
