Lawyers Who Prepped With ChatGPT Learn Their Fate

Two lawyers who filed error-filled court briefs with input from ChatGPT will each have to pay a $5,000 fine and notify each of the real judges whose names appeared in the filing of the outcome of the case. But Judge P. Kevin Castel of Manhattan's Federal District Court said Thursday that it would be up to the lawyers to decide whether to apologize to those judges "because a compelled apology is not a sincere apology," per the New York Times. Adding to criticism heaped on the pair in an earlier hearing, Castel said Steven Schwartz and Peter LoDuca had "abandoned their responsibilities" and promoted "cynicism about the legal profession and the American judicial system," per CNBC and the Times.

"Many harms flow from the submission of fake opinions," the judge wrote. Money and time are wasted "in exposing the deception," while "a future litigant may be tempted to defy a judicial ruling by disingenuously claiming doubt about its authenticity." Castel noted the pair might have escaped punishment had they not "continued to stand by the fake opinions after judicial orders called their existence into question." Though it was not required by the judge, the lawyers' firm, Levidow, Levidow & Oberman, is planning mandatory training on artificial intelligence programs, per the Times. In a separate ruling, Castel dismissed the lawsuit against Avianca airline in which the briefs had been filed, citing the statute of limitations. (More ChatGPT stories.)