Featured in this episode of Chaos Lever
“Ahh, ChatGPT,” attorney Steven Schwartz said to himself. “That perfect and infallible helper that can literally be used for anything. I’m tight on time here- I bet that ChatGPT is the PERFECT tool for me to get some legal research done. Oh wow- that was fast. Can I trust these results? I know, I’ll ask ChatGPT!”
Regular listeners of this show probably know how the story ends. ChatGPT DID return details and cases for LoDuca’s filings, showing precedent that ChatGPT said were found “in many legal reference databases.”
Turns out, at least six of the cases ChatGPT came back with…. Uh… didn’t, like, exist. As you can imagine, this did not go over well with the Judge in the case. It turns out “just making shit up” is not a good idea in court. The lawyers on the case now have a few weeks to think about what they did, as they’re due for a separate appearance on June 8th to “explain why they should not be disciplined.”
This is generally not considered a positive statement from a judge.