US lawyer sorry after ChatGPT creates 'bogus' cases

What happened when a US lawyer used ChatGPT to prepare a court filing? The artificial intelligence program invented fake cases and rulings, leaving the attorney rather red-faced. New York-based lawyer Steven Schwartz apologized to a judge this week for submitting a brief full of falsehoods generated by the OpenAI chatbot. "I simply had no idea that ChatGPT was capable of fabricating entire case citations or judicial opinions, especially in a manner that appeared authentic," Schwartz wrote in a court filing. The blunder occurred in a civil case being heard by Manhattan federal court involving a man who is suing the Colombian airline Avianca. Roberto Mata claims he was injured when a metal serving plate hit his leg during a flight in August 2019 from El Salvador to New York. After the airline's lawyers asked the court to dismiss the case, Schwartz filed a response that claimed to cite more than half a dozen decisions to support why the litigation should proceed. They included Petersen v. Iran Air, Varghese v. China Southern Airlines and Shaboon v. Egyptair. The Varghese case even included dated internal citations and quotes. There was one major problem, however: neither Avianca's attorneys nor the presiding judge, P. Kevin Castel could find the cases. Schwartz was forced to admit that ChatGPT had made up everything. "The court is presented with an unprecedented circumstance," judge Castel wrote last month. "Six of the submitted cases appear to be bogus judicial decisions with bogus quotes and bogus internal citations," he added.<br/>