New Mexico's Supreme Court fined attorney Stephen Aarons $5,000 and held him in contempt for failing to verify the factual claims and legal authority in his AI-generated brief, which contained fabricated witnesses and false testimony about a shooter's appearance in a murder case appeal.
Justice C. Shannon Bacon questioned how Aarons was unaware of AI risks during an August hearing, where Aarons admitted to using ChatGPT and believing it would generate a "bulletproof summary" of the trial. "Counsel, do you watch the news? Do you listen to the radio? Do you read anything about what's going on in the world?" Bacon asked, noting that AI hallucinations in legal work are "an above-the-fold story every single day."
Aarons stated he is "remorseful but hopeful that the disciplinary board takes into account it was an honest mistake." The trend of lawyers using AI tools is increasing, as are instances of courts discovering fabricated citations—last year, a judge slammed two law firms for submitting a brief with false legal citations, and Mike Lindell's lawyers were also fined for AI-generated misquotes.