Expert warns of courtroom chaos as new tech could unleash bogus info

Hallucinating artificial intelligence can tank a court case by creating fake case citations that leave the lawyers open to sanctions or the proceeding itself vulnerable to being overturned, a former litigator said.

Last month, a judge handed down a $5,000 penalty on a law firm representing Colombian airline Avianca Inc., which used ChatGPT to write its legal brief, but the AI included fabricated judicial decisions. 

A similar case happened in South Africa, and the judge and magistrate overseeing the cases ripped the law firms in their decisions.

"There is potential harm to the reputation of judges and...