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Lawyers blame ChatGPT for tricking them into citing bogus case law

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Re: Lawyers blame ChatGPT for tricking them into citing bogus case law

#131
post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it’s not. You’ll get old one day. It’s pretty challenging to keep track of what’s real and what isn’t possible with technology. The guy apologized and said he thought it was a search engine. He should definitely face some sanctions but someone had to learn this lesson in public the hard way for word to spread.

These exemptions we are passing out are insane. This guy claims he thought it was a search engine? Lawyers use specific case law databases and they SHOULD approach any new tools with healthy skepticism. And if he googled it and cited a fake case would it be better? Why wouldn’t you vet the information.

Yeah it was bad.

Disbarment is equivalent to taking away his entire life's work.

Two minute hate on the internet every day is fun and all but it's not that severe.

Re: Lawyers blame ChatGPT for tricking them into citing bogus case law

#132
post #116
post #97

Disbarment is appropriate here. Why not blame your laptop manufacturer for creating the hardware you used to file your fraudulent court documents?

No it’s not. You’ll get old one day. It’s pretty challenging to keep track of what’s real and what isn’t possible with technology. The guy apologized and said he thought it was a search engine. He should definitely face some sanctions but someone had to learn this lesson in public the hard way for word to spread.

>"The guy apologized and said he thought it was a search engine."

I am also having a thought: stop bullshitting. Or stop being a lawyer as a result of gross incompetence (I wish the same applies to politicians).

Re: Lawyers blame ChatGPT for tricking them into citing bogus case law

#133
post #116
post #97

Disbarment is appropriate here. Why not blame your laptop manufacturer for creating the hardware you used to file your fraudulent court documents?

No it’s not. You’ll get old one day. It’s pretty challenging to keep track of what’s real and what isn’t possible with technology. The guy apologized and said he thought it was a search engine. He should definitely face some sanctions but someone had to learn this lesson in public the hard way for word to spread.

The lawyers not only cited bogus cases, but when asked to provide copies of those bogus cases, fabricated multiple page PDF documents from whole cloth. This is impossible to argue as a mistake.

Here is an example of one of the fabricated cases. The 11th circuit has no record of this case. 1 of the 3 judges named in the case was not on the 11th circuit at the time: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.57...

Re: Lawyers blame ChatGPT for tricking them into citing bogus case law

#134
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

notOpenAI told them that this is so incomprehensibly smart that it will destroy all of us. Not because it's dumb and connects the wrong cables, but because it's super-smart. People can't surmise from that that the model just makes stuff up on the way

OpenAI is clear about the fact that ChatGPT can hallucinate, where have they ever said otherwise?

This is what I don't get. Not only have they not said otherwise, but they put it right up front in a pretty easy to understand brief message before you start using it. I guess lawyers just click agree without reading too.

Re: Lawyers blame ChatGPT for tricking them into citing bogus case law

#135
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

notOpenAI told them that this is so incomprehensibly smart that it will destroy all of us. Not because it's dumb and connects the wrong cables, but because it's super-smart. People can't surmise from that that the model just makes stuff up on the way

OpenAI is clear about the fact that ChatGPT can hallucinate, where have they ever said otherwise?

One of the most widely circulated PR about GPT4 is that it passed the bar exam

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2023/03/14/gpt-4-b...

and it's had the most vocal and sensational PR about how AI needs regulation now

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/09/tech/korea-altman-chatgpt...

People assume the smalltext does not apply to them.

openAI does not get a lot of flak from the media for the amount of BS that chatGPT can blurt out

Does anyone remember what happened to Galactica which did the same thing ? That too was clearly labeled as hallucinatory . But it was shut down because they did not BS the media enough about regulations and such.

I m afraid these LLMs are turning into too much of a political game to be useful for much longer.

On the other hand, if they become political, then people will be even more incentivized to build offline, local LLMs

Re: Lawyers blame ChatGPT for tricking them into citing bogus case law

#136
post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These exemptions we are passing out are insane. This guy claims he thought it was a search engine? Lawyers use specific case law databases and they SHOULD approach any new tools with healthy skepticism. And if he googled it and cited a fake case would it be better? Why wouldn’t you vet the information.

Yeah it was bad. Disbarment is equivalent to taking away his entire life's work. Two minute hate on the internet every day is fun and all but it's not that severe.

He failed his duty to both client and the court. This was wilful negligence.

This is like surgeon doing wrong procedure he just invented on patient.

Re: Lawyers blame ChatGPT for tricking them into citing bogus case law

#137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is literally just a goddamn language model. it is very good at making plausibly human-like sentences. It is not a general intelligence, it is not your friend, it is not a research assistant. It is not designed to deliver content which is correct , it is designed to deliver content which is similar to human language . It might get things correct most of the time! But that is purely incidental.

It is literally just a goddamn electric motor. it is very good at converting chemical energy into mechanical energy. It is not a universal engine, it is not your horse, it is not your servant. It is not designed to create movement which is correct , it is designed to create movement which is similar to a piston engine . It might move you forward most of the time! But that is purely incidental.

now imagine believing that this electric motor can self-drive itself to the supermarket

Re: Lawyers blame ChatGPT for tricking them into citing bogus case law

#139
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've got some really, really, really bad news. Lawyers are not really any smarter than any other group of people out there. Passing a test about law doesn't mean much at all... I mean, I did computer support for many lawyers and prosecutors and many were clever intelligent people. Others had to be explained to in simple instructions they shouldn't pour the glue on their keyboard before eating it. How they became a la…

Johnny's family has been invested in this university for generations and if we don't pass him they might pull their funding of the new building?

Legal degree from less popular mills aren't very high standard. Expensive sure, but not high standard.

The true test is the bar, but even then you can probably get lucky or hammer enough stuff in head to pass.

Re: Lawyers blame ChatGPT for tricking them into citing bogus case law

#140
Related:

- "A man sued Avianca Airline – his lawyer used ChatGPT" (13 days ago, 174 points, 139 comments): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36095352

- "Lawyer who used ChatGPT faces penalty for made up citations" (1 day ago, 106 points, 128 comments): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36242462

Original court documents: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/63107798/mata-v-avianca...

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