Federal Judge Nina Wang directed lawyers representing My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell to respond why they should not be sanctioned after filing a legal brief with many false citations created by artificial intelligence.
AI-Generated Legal Brief Riddled with Errors
The attorneys, Christopher Kachouroff and Jennifer DeMaster, filed the suspicious brief in February as a part of the ongoing defamation action between Lindell and Eric Coomer, who is a former Dominion Voting Systems employee.
The brief had about 30 inaccurately cited quotes, including cases misquoted and references to judicial precedents completely non-existent, court filings indicated.
“The Court identified nearly thirty defective citations in the Opposition. These defects include but are not limited to misquotes of cited cases; misrepresentations of principles of law associated with cited cases, including discussions of legal principles that simply do not appear within such decisions,” Judge Wang wrote in her order.
It further escalated into another controversy when the use of AI by lawyers came to light. Judge Wang said in her ruling that Kachouroff had only come clean about using generative artificial intelligence when questioned directly by the court.
“It was not until this Court expressly asked Mr. Kachouroff if the Opposition was the product of generative artificial intelligence that Mr. Kachouroff finally admitted that he did, in fact, use generative artificial intelligence,” the judge stated.
Further questioning revealed that even with his awareness of his responsibility under Federal Rule 11 of the Civil Rules, Kachouroff did not verify the authenticity of the AI-generated citations before submitting the document to court.
AI Admission and Sanctions in Dominion Voting Systems Case
The attorneys attempted to explain the situation by claiming that they had inadvertently uploaded a draft of the motion instead of a finalized, edited version. Judge Wang was not satisfied with this explanation, pointing out that only after they were directly questioned did the attorneys admit to the use of AI.
Both DeMaster and Kachouroff also face the possibility of being disciplined for violating rules of professional conduct. They have been ordered by Judge Wang to respond to her show-cause order by May 5.
This case highlights growing concerns with the use of AI in legal work. While AI programs are able to conduct research and generate documents, the case illustrates the risks of their use without serious human vetting of the output.
The defamation action in question is brought by Eric Coomer, a former Dominion Voting Systems employee, against Lindell, MyPillow, and FrankSpeech (Lindell’s erstwhile media outlet). Lindell, an ardent supporter of former President Donald Trump, stands accused of circulating conspiracy about the 2020 presidential election.
AI Errors and Election Fraud Allegations
Lindell was also reported to have bankrolled post-2020 election protest activism to overturn Joe Biden’s victory. His legal troubles have mounted in the past few years, with numerous lawsuits based on his election fraud allegations.
This case serves as a caution to working lawyers who are increasingly being tempted to use AI devices in their practice. Whether artificial intelligence can simplify some legal work or not, the responsibility of verifying accuracy and truthfulness of court pleadings remains firmly on the shoulders of human lawyers.
Legal analysts are pointing out that this case can have the potential to create more concrete rules or guidelines on the use of AI in the legal profession as courts struggle to interpret the implications of this emerging technology.
As the use of artificial intelligence grows more popular in the workplace, the case draws attention to transparency of its usage and the need for human involvement, particularly in situations where accuracy and truth matter, such as in court hearings.
The ruling of the court on possible punishment of DeMaster and Kachouroff will be closely scrutinized by legal experts as a harbinger of the court’s possible future disposition of such matters.
