US lawyer cites fake witnesses in murder case, blames ChatGPT

State supreme court fined the attorney and held him in contempt for not verifying facts in a court filing.A defense lawyer appealing his client’s murder conviction submitted a brief containing made-up police testimony and witnesses fabricated by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, New Mexico’s highest court has said.The New Mexico Supreme Court in the United States on Wednesday fined the lawyer, Stephen Aarons, and held him in contempt for failing to verify the accuracy of the court filing, which Aarons said he prepared with help from the artificial intelligence (AI) programme.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4The vanishing pharmacy of the Sundarbanslist 2 of 4Hull City’s Sorba Thomas unharmed as car overturned in crashlist 3 of 4Rising petrol costs drive sharp inflation increase in US in Augustlist 4 of 4Iran and Gulf states to discuss Strait of Hormuz in Oman on Mondayend of listThe filing “contained false testimony from wholly fabricated witnesses”, the court said.The panel also said Aarons had “demonstrated a lack of remorse and a lack of concern for his client”. The justices fined Aarons $5,000 and said they will refer him to an attorney disciplinary board for investigation.Aarons, in a statement to the Reuters news agency, said he had used ChatGPT to summarise the trial proceedings when he agreed to take up the defendant’s appeal last year, and did not understand the degree to which AI could “hallucinate” facts.“I am remorseful but hopeful that the disciplinary board takes into account it was an honest mistake,” he said. “It is a lesson learned for all professionals who rely upon this powerful but sometimes unstable technology.”OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Use of AI toolsThe court’s sanction is the latest in a growing number of cases in which state and federal judges have disciplined lawyers for submitting court documents generated by AI tools without adequately vetting them. Some judges have also faced scrutiny over the use of AI.