Lawyer Apologizes After AI Generates Fake Cases in Murder Trial Filing
AI can do a lot, but it's still not a lawyer
It's really wild how much artificial intelligence can do these days. It's an incredible tool that is making our lives easier by saving us time and allowing us to accomplish things that previous generations wouldn't have been able to dream of.
That said, if you think that AI is now going to let you save a big chunk of change on legal fees, you might want to pump the brakes on that.
According to the Associated Press, defense lawyer Rishi Nathwani was forced to apologize after he was caught using AI to file submissions in a case in the Supreme Court of Victoria involving a minor accused of murder.
Nathwani said he was taking "full responsibility" for the mistake, which was noticed when the legal team submitted materials that contained quotes from a speech that never happened and even cited legal cases that simply didn't exist.
"It is not acceptable for artificial intelligence to be used unless the product of that use is independently and thoroughly verified," Justice James Elliott said.
This is not the first time something like this has happened. In July, a man in Canada got caught using AI to write his legal defense, and it didn't work out for him.
But that was one guy defending himself. You'd think a team of lawyers would know better.
I also can't get over them thinking AI was ready for a murder trial. I mean, if you decided to save a bunch of time and have AI write up your defense to fight a parking ticket, I can understand, but even that might be a bridge too far for it.
But murder?
I don't know about that. Seems like a tall order.
There might be a time when we can let AI handle legal wranglings, but that seems a long way away.