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Two federal judges acknowledged that their staffs used artificial intelligence this summer to prepare court orders that contained errors.
District Judge Julian Xavier Niles of New Jersey and U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate of Mississippi made the admission in response to inquiries from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.
Grassley called the recent court order “riddled with errors.”
In a letter released Thursday by Grassley's office, the justices said the rulings in the cases were unrelated and did not go through the chambers' usual review process before being released.
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The justices' admission came in response to a query from Senator Chuck Grassley. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Both judges said they had taken steps to improve the way they review rulings before they are issued.
Niles said in the letter that the June 30 draft decision in the securities litigation “was issued in error — a human error — and was immediately withdrawn after it was brought to the attention of my office.”
A law school intern used OpenAI's ChatGPT to conduct legal research without authorization or disclosure, the judge said, adding that it violated chamber policy and the policy of the law school involved.
“My chamber’s policy prohibits the use of GenAI in legal research or drafting opinions or orders,” Niles wrote. “In the past, my policy was communicated verbally to chamber staff, including interns. This is no longer the case. I now have a clear written policy that applies to all legal staff and interns.”
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Senator Chuck Grassley described the recent court order as “riddled with errors.” (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Wingate said in the letter that a legal staff member used Perplexity “as a basic drafting assistant to synthesize the information disclosed on the docket,” adding that the issuance of the July 20 draft decision “was a lapse of human oversight.”
“This was a mistake. I have taken steps within the court to ensure this mistake does not happen again,” the judge wrote.
Wingate, which has deleted and replaced the original order in the civil rights lawsuit, declined to offer an explanation at the time but said it contained a “clerical error.”
Grassley asked the judge to explain whether artificial intelligence was used in the decision after attorneys in each case raised concerns about factual inaccuracies and other serious errors.
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Sen. Chuck Grassley asked the judge to explain whether artificial intelligence was used in the decision after lawyers raised concerns about factual inaccuracies and other errors. (Photo by SUSAN WALSH/POOL/AFP Getty Images)
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“Honesty is always the best policy. I commend Judges Wingate and Niles for admitting their mistakes, and I'm glad to hear they are working to ensure this never happens again,” Grassley said in a statement.
“Every federal judge and the Judiciary as an institution have an obligation to ensure that the use of generative AI does not violate the rights of litigants or impede fair treatment under the law,” the senator continued. “The Judiciary needs to develop more decisive, meaningful, and durable AI policies and guidance. We cannot allow laziness, indifference, or overreliance on human assistance to subvert the Judiciary's commitment to integrity and factual accuracy. As always, my oversight will continue.”
Lawyers are also facing scrutiny from judges across the country over allegations of misuse of artificial intelligence in court documents. In response, judges have imposed fines or other sanctions in a number of cases over the past few years.
Reuters contributed to this report.