EQUIPThe Verge · 3d ago
Lawyer fined $5K over AI-hallucinated witnesses in a murder case
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New Mexico's Supreme Court fined attorney Stephen Aarons $5,000 and held him in contempt for submitting AI-generated false evidence. The court cited a failure to verify factual claims and legal citations in a high-stakes murder conviction appeal.
- 01Attorney Stephen Aarons submitted AI-fabricated witness statements and fake police testimony in court filings
- 02New Mexico's Supreme Court issued a five thousand dollar fine for professional negligence
- 03The ruling emphasizes the non-delegable duty of legal professionals to verify AI-generated content
- 04Contempt charges were filed due to the inclusion of hallucinated data in a murder appeal
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New Mexico's Supreme Court is punishing a lawyer for including AI-fabricated witnesses and fake police testimony in an appeal for his client's murder conviction, according to a report from Reuters. In a filing on Wednesday, the court fined Stephen Aarons $5,000 and held him in contempt for failing to "verify the factual claims and legal […]