DC court faults lawyers for Deutsche Bank subsidiary over AI hallucination
DB•Court calls the case a warning on AI use in law
- The D.C. Court of Appeals said the case was the first in which it encountered a brief containing fabricated citations. The legal industry’s use of AI is so commonplace now, the court said, that “attorneys can no longer credibly claim ignorance of its pitfalls, including its propensity to hallucinate legal authority.”
- “Our intent is not to discourage attorneys from using AI — indeed, we have reached a point where attorneys eschew at least an understanding, if not use, of AI at their own peril — but to emphasize the importance of doing so discerningly and responsibly,” the panel of judges said.
- The court struck Deutsche Bank National Trust’s brief and said it was referring the matter to the D.C. attorney discipline arm for “any investigation it deems appropriate."
- Judge Stephen Glickman, writing separately, said striking the court filing is an “appropriate but comparatively weak response that unfortunately penalizes the innocent client for its counsel’s offense.” Glickman suggested the full appeals court may “wish to address this situation.”
