No ChatGPT in my court: Judge orders all AI-generated content must be declared and checked
Reading Time: 2 minutesFew lawyers would be foolish enough to let an AI make their arguments, but one already did, and Judge Brantley Starr is taking steps to ensure that debacle isn’t repeated in his courtroom.
The Texas federal judge has added a requirement that any attorney appearing in his court must attest that ‘no portion of the filing was drafted by generative artificial intelligence,’ or if it was, that it was checked ‘by a human being.’
Last week, attorney Steven Schwartz allowed ChatGPT to ‘supplement’ his legal research in a recent federal filing, providing him with six cases and relevant precedent — all of which were completely hallucinated by the language model. He now ‘greatly regrets’ doing this, and while the national coverage of this gaffe probably caused any other lawyers thinking of trying it to think again, Judge Starr isn’t taking any chances.
At the federal site for Texas’s Northern District, Starr has, like other judges, the opportunity to set specific rules for his courtroom. And added recently (though it’s unclear whether this was in response to the aforementioned filing) is the ‘Mandatory Certification Regarding Generative Artificial Intelligence.’ Eugene Volokh first reported the news.
A form for lawyers to sign is appended, noting that ‘quotations, citations, paraphrased assertions, and legal analysis’ are all covered by this proscription. As summary is one of AI’s strong suits, and finding and summarizing precedent or previous cases is something that has been advertised as potentially helpful in legal work, this may end up coming into play more often than expected.
Whoever drafted the memorandum on this matter at Judge Starr’s office has their finger on the pulse. The certification requirement includes a pretty well informed and convincing explanation of its necessity (line breaks added for readability):
In other words, be prepared to justify yourself.
While this is just one judge in one court, it would not be surprising if others took up this rule as their own. While as the court says, this is a powerful and potentially helpful technology, its use must be at the very least clearly declared and checked for accuracy.
Ref: techcrunch
MediaDownloader.net -> Free Online Video Downloader, Download Any Video From YouTube, VK, Vimeo, Twitter, Twitch, Tumblr, Tiktok, Telegram, TED, Streamable, Soundcloud, Snapchat, Share, Rumble, Reddit, PuhuTV, Pinterest, Periscope, Ok.ru, MxTakatak, Mixcloud, Mashable, LinkedIn, Likee, Kwai, Izlesene, Instagram, Imgur, IMDB, Ifunny, Gaana, Flickr, Febspot, Facebook, ESPN, Douyin, Dailymotion, Buzzfeed, BluTV, Blogger, Bitchute, Bilibili, Bandcamp, Akıllı, 9GAG