An attorney representing a man suing Avianca airlines for negligence admitted to submitting at least six cases for a brief that “appear to be bogus judicial decisions with bogus quotes and bogus internal citations,” Southern District of New York Judge Kevin Castel said in an order. Lawyer Steven Schwartz claimed it was his first time using ChatGPT for a case, and he “was unaware of the possibility that its content could be false.” Schwartz, who will face a sanctions hearing next month, said in an affidavit that he “greatly regrets having utilized generative artificial intelligence to supplement the legal research” and “will never do so in the future without absolute verification.” In his affidavit, he included screenshots of ChatGPT swearing the fake cases were real and even cited real legal databases the lawsuits were supposedly stored in.
