Incident Tracker

Mata v Avianca, Inc.

sanctions

The origin case of legal AI hallucination sanctions: two New York attorneys were fined $5,000 after citing six ChatGPT-invented cases in a personal-injury filing and persisting after the fabrications were questioned, prompting the first widely reported judicial rebuke of generative AI misuse by lawyers.

Date of decision/order

2023-06-22

Court

US District Court, Southern District of New York

Jurisdiction

US-FEDERAL

AI tool

ChatGPT

Conduct

Attorneys filed an affirmation citing six non-existent judicial decisions generated by ChatGPT, then doubled down when challenged, submitting fabricated opinions.

Consequence

USD 5,000