Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's former lawyer, admitted to giving his lawyer fake AI-generated court citations in a motion filing in relation to the case against Trump.
In the court papers unsealed last Friday, Cohen confessed to submitting bogus legal citations he found from AI chatbot Google Bard to his lawyer, David Schwartz.
To his defense, Cohen explained he has not kept up with "emerging trends (and related risks)" in using AI in legal documents, thinking it was more of "a super‑charged search engine."
It can be remembered that Schwartz cited three false legal cases during a motion to terminate Cohen's supervision early. Cohen's other lawyer, E. Danya Perry, has since handled his case.
The disbarred lawyer blamed Schwartz for failure to "check those citations or summaries" and asked the court to exercise "discretion and mercy."
Schwartz, in turn, blamed "the conduct of his client" for suggesting false legal citations for his motion filing.
Cohen's party remains committed that the former lawyer "did not engage in any misconduct" as he, a nonlawyer, "had no obligation to confirm as much."
Lawyers Citing Fake Legal Citations Using AI
Schwartz's case was not the first time AI chatbots like Google Bard had been used to cite non-existent legal documents to the court.
Back in May, a Manhattan Federal court fined two lawyers $5,000 after admitting to using ChatGPT to help write court filings that include six bogus cases invented by the AI.
In Brazil, a council member has secretly submitted a bill made by ChatGPT to the city council. Other council members only knew about the use of AI after the bill was passed into law.
Court Dismisses Cohen's Filing Against Trump
A federal court has rejected Cohen's motion to revive his case against Trump for alleged retaliation days after the court documents on the AI use were made public.
Several law practitioners have already expressed concerns about Cohen and Schwartz's actions for their implications on the case against Trump where Cohen is supposed to be the star witness.
Cohen continues to insist on a writ of habeas corpus against the "rogue president" for using the Department of Justice to silence his critics.
Trump has been known for calling the DOJ or the FBI to investigate his perceived enemies in politics.
Trump is currently indicted for instigating the August 1 riot in an attempt to overturn the 2020 elections.
Related Article : ChatGPT Can Now Write Legal Rulings for Judges in UK
