Steven Schwartz, who used ChatGPT to write a legal brief, is pictured outside federal court in Manhattan on Thursday, June 8, 2023, in New York.
A New York federal judge on Thursday sanctioned lawyers who submitted a legal brief written by the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT, which included citations of non-existent court opinions and fake quotes.
But Castel said the lawyers exhibited "bad faith" by making false and misleading statements about the brief and its contents after Avianca's lawyers raised concerns that the legal citations in the brief were from court cases did not exist.
"In researching and drafting court submissions, good lawyers appropriately obtain assistance from junior lawyers, law students, contract lawyers, legal encyclopedias and databases such as Westlaw and LexisNexis," Castel wrote in his order.
"Technological advances are commonplace and there is nothing inherently improper about using a reliable artificial intelligence tool for assistance," Castel wrote.
Persons:
Steven Schwartz, Judge P, Kevin Castel, Peter LoDuca, Castel, Schwartz, Levidow, Roberto Mata, Mata's
Organizations:
New, Montreal Convention, LexisNexis
Locations:
Manhattan, New York, U.S, El Salvador, Montreal