The state Supreme Court held Stephen Aarons in contempt and fined him $5,000 after finding his client’s murder-appeal brief included witnesses and police testimony invented by ChatGPT, Reuters reported.
The New Mexico Supreme Court held defense attorney Stephen Aarons in contempt and fined him $5,000 after finding that a murder-appeal brief he filed included made-up police testimony and witnesses fabricated by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Reuters reported on September 11.
The filing “contained false testimony from wholly fabricated witnesses,” the court said, according to Reuters. Justices also said Aarons had “demonstrated a lack of remorse and a lack of concern for his client,” fined him $5,000, and said they will refer him to an attorney disciplinary board for investigation.
Aarons told Reuters he used ChatGPT to summarize trial proceedings when he took up the appeal of Oscar Renee Sandoval, who was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison, and did not understand how far AI could “hallucinate” facts. “I am remorseful but hopeful that the disciplinary board takes into account it was an honest mistake,” he said. At an August 21 hearing, he told the court he fed a computer-generated transcript and other materials to ChatGPT, presuming it would produce “a bulletproof summary.” The court said fabricated material appeared to include fictional statements about what the shooter wore.
Justice C. Shannon Bacon pressed whether Aarons followed news coverage of lawyers relying on AI hallucinations, calling the problem “an above-the-fold story every single day.” OpenAI did not immediately comment. The appeal remains pending and was reassigned to a New Mexico public defender, Reuters said. The sanction is the latest in a growing line of cases disciplining lawyers for unverified AI-generated filings; Reuters noted Aarons’ brief went further by fabricating witness testimony in a criminal appeal.
This brief covers the contempt finding and fine as reported. It does not adjudicate the underlying murder case.