{
  "id": 6784551,
  "title": "New Mexico lawyer fined for using AI-generated brief containing fabricated police testimony",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/new-mexico-lawyer-fined-for-using-ai-generated-brief-containing",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-11T18:04:05.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Guardian Technology",
    "slug": "guardian-technology",
    "url": "https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/sep/11/new-mexico-lawyer-ai-chatgpt-testimony"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "A defense lawyer, Stephen Aarons, has been fined and held in contempt by the New Mexico Supreme Court for submitting a legal brief containing fabricated police testimony and witnesses. The brief was prepared with the help of OpenAI's ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence application. According to the court, the filing contained false testimony from wholly fabricated witnesses.\n\nAarons had used ChatGPT to summarize the trial proceedings when he agreed to take up the defendant's appeal last year. He claimed he did not understand the degree to which AI could \"hallucinate\" facts. The court fined Aarons $5,000 and referred him to an attorney disciplinary board for investigation. The panel also noted that Aarons had demonstrated a lack of remorse and concern for his client, as per the Economic Times Tech.\n\nThe incident highlights the risks of relying on AI tools in legal work. Aarons expressed remorse, stating it was an honest mistake, and hoped the disciplinary board would take this into account. The court's sanction is one of several cases where lawyers have been disciplined for submitting court documents generated by AI tools without proper verification.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Colombia One",
        "title": "New Mexico Supreme Court Fines Lawyer US$5,000 Over ChatGPT-Assisted Murder Appeal",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/new-mexico-supreme-court-fines-lawyer-us-5-000-over-chatgpt-assisted",
        "published": "2026-09-11T20:57:00.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}