Two US lawyers fined for submitting fake court citations from ChatGPT

#1

Post by gorbachev » Fri, Jun 23, 2023, 2:40 PM UTC

Two US lawyers fined for submitting fake court citations from ChatGPT
theguardian.com

Re: Two US lawyers fined for submitting fake court citations from ChatGPT

#2

Post by gorbachev » Fri, Jun 23, 2023, 2:42 PM UTC

re: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36242462

Re: Two US lawyers fined for submitting fake court citations from ChatGPT

#3

Post by damnesian » Fri, Jun 23, 2023, 2:50 PM UTC

Everyone letting ChatGPT do their jobs, and the people training ChatGPT are too lazy to do the work themselves, they actually use ChatGPT to train ChatGPT... what could possibly go wrong in this scenario?

Re: Two US lawyers fined for submitting fake court citations from ChatGPT

#4

Post by sgbeal » Fri, Jun 23, 2023, 2:54 PM UTC

That should be a career-ending move, not a fine.

Re: Two US lawyers fined for submitting fake court citations from ChatGPT

#5

Post by curiousgal » Fri, Jun 23, 2023, 3:02 PM UTC

Your honour I am not a cat

Re: Two US lawyers fined for submitting fake court citations from ChatGPT

#6

Post by mindcrime » Fri, Jun 23, 2023, 3:02 PM UTC

sgbeal wrote: post #4

That should be a career-ending move, not a fine.

I disagree with the notion that it should be "career ending", but I do think they got off pretty light.

Re: Two US lawyers fined for submitting fake court citations from ChatGPT

#7

Post by danielmarkbruce » Fri, Jun 23, 2023, 3:07 PM UTC

Speaking confidently in a structured manner and sprinkling in 'facts' has always been quite convincing to humans.

Re: Two US lawyers fined for submitting fake court citations from ChatGPT

#8

Post by isp » Fri, Jun 23, 2023, 3:10 PM UTC

- "Lawyer who used ChatGPT faces penalty for made up citations" (15 days ago, 128 comments): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36242462

- "Lawyers blame ChatGPT for tricking them into citing bogus case law" (14 days ago, 175 comments): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36257545

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

The full document from the federal judge on sanctions: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.57...

One of many highlights: dismissing the lawyer's bad-faith argument with a footnote quoting Alice in Wonderland (footnote 12, page 18).

Re: Two US lawyers fined for submitting fake court citations from ChatGPT

#9

Post by BlakeSimpson » Fri, Jun 23, 2023, 3:16 PM UTC

It blows my mind that a lawyer would go through all the schooling and DEBT just to use ChatGPT and risk losing their BAR card.

Sure, I see plenty of uses for ChatGPT in their field, but to not even check the output before submitting it is what blows my mind.

Re: Two US lawyers fined for submitting fake court citations from ChatGPT

#10

Post by Ensorceled » Fri, Jun 23, 2023, 3:18 PM UTC

mindcrime wrote: post #6

sgbeal wrote: post #4

That should be a career-ending move, not a fine.

I disagree with the notion that it should be "career ending", but I do think they got off pretty light.

They doubled down on their original mistake rather than admit what they did, even when it was quite clear the judge and opposing council was on to them. They should be disbarred.