‘Extremely Remorseful’ Lawyers Confronted by Judge Over ‘Legal Gibberish’ Citations from ChatGPT
Two apologetic lawyers responding to an angry judge in Manhattan federal court blamed ChatGPT Thursday for tricking them into including fictitious legal research in a court filing… [Attorney Steven A. Schwartz] told U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel he was “operating under a misconception … that this website was obtaining these cases from some source I did not have access to.” He said he “failed miserably” at doing follow-up research to ensure the citations were correct.
“I did not comprehend that ChatGPT could fabricate cases,” Schwartz said…
The judge confronted Schwartz with one legal case invented by the computer program. It was initially described as a wrongful death case brought by a woman against an airline only to morph into a legal claim about a man who missed a flight to New York and was forced to incur additional expenses. “Can we agree that’s legal gibberish?” Castel asked.
Schwartz said he erroneously thought that the confusing presentation resulted from excerpts being drawn from different parts of the case. When Castel finished his questioning, he asked Schwartz if he had anything else to say. “I would like to sincerely apologize,” Schwartz said. He added that he had suffered personally and professionally as a result of the blunder and felt “embarrassed, humiliated and extremely remorseful.”
He said that he and the firm where he worked — Levidow, Levidow & Oberman — had put safeguards in place to ensure nothing similar happens again.
An attorney for the law firm also told the judge that lawyers have historically had a hard time with technology, particularly new technology. “And it’s not getting easier.”