ChatGPT-using lawyer punished for citing fake testimony from made-up witnesses
"I didn't know that AI could hallucinate facts," New Mexico defense lawyer says.
A New Mexico attorney has been punished for using ChatGPT to provide false testimony from fabricated witnesses in a legal brief, according to the New Mexico Supreme Court. The court found that the lawyer, Stephen Aarons, demonstrated a lack of remorse and disregard for his client's interests. Aarons admitted to the court that he failed to verify the accuracy of the AI-generated content and did not inform his client of the errors or the presence of misleading information in the brief.
Aarons, a criminal defense attorney with over four decades of experience, was hired to appeal a murder conviction for a defendant's family. The convicted individual, Oscar Renee Sandoval, received a life sentence in February 2025 for the murder of his partner and children's mother, Shiereen Al-Jibury.
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