A court in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal region faced an issue where AI misled lawyers by generating false legal citations. Lawyers relied on ChatGPT to find case examples for their High Court arguments. Upon independent verification, the judge discovered that the cited cases lacked legitimacy in legal databases, prompting the court to rule against the plaintiffs. Legal expert Tayla Pinto highlighted the increasing challenge of lawyers misusing generative AI, indicating a need for responsible and ethical utilization of AI technologies in legal practice.
The court has gained the impression that the lawyers placed false trust in the veracity of AI-generated legal research and, out of laziness, failed to check this research.
This shows that the problem of lawyers not knowing how to use generative AI responsibly and ethically is growing.
There are three cases in South Africa in which the legal advisors involved used AI to create their court documents.
The AI invented facts, leading to serious consequences for the legal team in a High Court dispute.
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