Judge considers sanctions against attorneys in prison case for using AI in court filings

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

Updated 7:23 PM EDT, May 21, 2025


BIRMINGHAM, Ala, (AP) — A federal judge said Wednesday that she is considering sanctions against lawyers with a high-priced firm hired to defend Alabama’s prison system after ChatGPT was used to write two court filings that included nonexistent case citations.

U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco held a hearing in Birmingham to question attorneys with the Butler Snow firm about the filings. She said there were five false citations in two filings in federal court. Manasco said that nationally, there have been broad warnings from courts about the use of artificial intelligence to generate legal filings because of the potential for inaccuracies.

Manasco said she is considering a range of sanctions, including fines. She gave the firm 10 days to file a brief with the court. Butler Snow lawyers repeatedly apologized during the hearing.

They said a firm partner, Matt Reeves, used ChatGPT to research supporting case law but did not verify the information before adding it to two filings with the federal court. Those citations turned out to be “hallucinations” — meaning incorrect citations — by the AI system, they said. Four attorneys signed the filings with the information, including Reeves.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/alabama-prisons-ai-8cbaf729dafc2b56bee59545391707c0

---

Here's a similar case where Mike Lindell's lawyers used AI filings - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143447483

Apparently this is a "thing". Makes me wonder if eventually this whole "AI" (at least the current iterations) will go the way of the dotcom bubble.