Judge Reportedly Disqualifies Butler Snow Lawyers Following Purported Use of ChatGPT-Fabricated Citations in Alabama Prison Litigation
Description
Three Butler Snow attorneys defending a former Alabama corrections commissioner were reportedly disqualified after two motions cited five non-existent cases generated via ChatGPT. Judge Anna Manasco is reported to have publicly reprimanded the lawyers, referred them to the Alabama State Bar, and ordered broad disclosure; she declined to sanction the firm. An external review of 2,400 citations across 330 filings reported no further errors.
Actors
Alleged Deployers
- butler-snow
- matthew-b.-reeves
- william-cranford
- william-lunsford
Alleged Developers
- openai
Harmed Parties
- frankie-johnson
- alabama-department-of-corrections
- state-of-alabama
- butler-snow
- matthew-b.-reeves
- william-cranford
- william-lunsford
- judicial-integrity
- epistemic-integrity
- general-public-of-alabama
Classification
Risk Domain
MisinformationRisk Subdomain
3.1. False or misleading information
MIT Risk Profile
Source
Related Incidents (Misinformation)
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