ChatGPT is everywhere in the news. And as we reported in our Blog last week, it’s even being used to create documents filed with the court – much to the chagrin of the judges. Two New York lawyers are now facing potential sanctions from a Manhattan judge for filing court briefs that were drafted using ChatGPT – and which contained cites for precedent court cases that did not actually exist.
Now another judge in Texas has decided to take the ChatGPT bull-by-the-horns: District Court Judge Brantley Starr is requiring all lawyers who appear in his court to file a certificate, attesting that ChatGPT (or similar technology) was not used to write the briefs filed – or if it was, then the briefs were reviewed and checked by a human using print reporters or traditional legal databases. The judge added that any purported filings not accompanied by the sworn attestation will not be accepted, and that lawyers caught swearing a false certificate may face sanctions.
Judge Starr posted the Notice to the legal profession on his judicial website recently. In it, he acknowledged that AI is “incredibly powerful” and does have a limited role in the legal profession – for example, to draft legal documents, point out errors in documents, and to anticipate questions. But writing legal briefs “is not one of them”, the judge stated.
He explained that generative AI like ChatGPT is subject to bias or unreliability, and “in their current state are prone to hallucinations and bias”. Judge Starr added: “On hallucinations, they make stuff up – even quotes and citations.” AI-driven systems are also unburdened by any sense of duty, honour and justice; unlike human lawyers, they have never given a formal pledge to uphold the law, he said.
In a later interview, Judge Starr said that he had originally considered banning the use of AI in his courtroom entirely, but realized that even traditional legal research databases implicitly use AI in the background, for running cases searches.
Additional coverage of this story:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-judge-bans-chatgpt-court-filing/
