Key Points:
- Michael Cohen, former lawyer of Donald Trump, mistakenly used AI chatbot Google Bard to generate fake legal citations in his case against Trump.
- Cohen believed that Google Bard was a “supercharged search engine” and not a generative AI service, leading to the inclusion of inaccurate information in court documents.
Michael Cohen, former lawyer for Donald Trump, has admitted to mistakenly including fake legal citations in a recent court filing in his case against Trump. Cohen used the artificial intelligence chatbot Google Bard to generate these citations, believing it to be a “supercharged search engine” rather than a generative AI service. Cohen sent the citations to his attorney, David Schwartz, to support his case. However, it was argued that Cohen, who is not an active legal professional, should have reviewed the information before including it in official court documents.
This is not the first instance of a lawyer relying on AI and later discovering inaccuracies in the results. Earlier this year, an attorney with a New York law firm faced criticism for using AI to create false court citations. The judge in that case strongly criticized the attorney for the inaccuracies.
These cases highlight the potential challenges and risks of using AI in legal research. While AI can be a powerful tool for gathering information, it is important for legal professionals to verify the accuracy of the results and not solely rely on AI-generated content.