ChatGPT-using lawyer punished for citing fake testimony from made-up witnesses
ChatGPT-using lawyer punished for citing fake testimony from made-up witnesses
因使用 ChatGPT 引用虚假证词，律师受到惩处
The New Mexico Supreme Court held a ChatGPT-using lawyer in direct contempt of court for submitting a brief with “false testimony from wholly fabricated witnesses,” including fake police testimony and other mistakes. The state’s top court referred the lawyer to a disciplinary board for further proceedings and concluded that he “demonstrated a lack of remorse and a lack of concern for his client.” 新墨西哥州最高法院裁定，一名使用 ChatGPT 的律师因提交包含“完全捏造的证人虚假证词”（包括伪造的警方证词及其他错误）的法律文书，构成直接藐视法庭。该州最高法院已将该律师移交至纪律委员会进行后续处理，并指出他“表现出缺乏悔意，且对当事人漠不关心”。
Attorney Stephen Aarons “admitted to the Court that he did not verify the factual claims and legal authority in his AI-generated brief before signing it and filing it with the Court, and that he did not inform his client of this failure or that the brief in chief contained multiple factual and legal misrepresentations,” the state Supreme Court said in an order on Wednesday. 新墨西哥州最高法院在周三的一份命令中表示，律师斯蒂芬·阿伦斯（Stephen Aarons）“向法院承认，他在签署并向法院提交由人工智能生成的法律文书前，并未核实其中的事实主张和法律依据；他也未告知当事人这一失职行为，或告知当事人该主要文书中包含多处事实和法律上的失实陈述。”
Aarons has been a criminal defense lawyer in New Mexico for over 40 years and was hired by a defendant’s family members to appeal a murder conviction. Aaron’s now-former client, Oscar Renee Sandoval, was sentenced to life in prison in February 2025 after being convicted of killing Shiereen Al-Jibury, who was his partner and the mother of his children. 阿伦斯在新墨西哥州担任刑事辩护律师已超过 40 年，此次受被告家属委托，负责对一起谋杀罪判决提起上诉。阿伦斯的前当事人奥斯卡·雷内·桑多瓦尔（Oscar Renee Sandoval）因杀害其伴侣及孩子母亲希琳·阿尔-吉布里（Shiereen Al-Jibury），于 2025 年 2 月被判处终身监禁。
A little over a year ago, in August 2025, Aarons submitted the brief containing fake testimony and other errors. Weeks later, the state of New Mexico filed a motion to strike portions of that brief. “Respondent admitted to the Court that the brief in chief contained false testimony from wholly fabricated witnesses—Officer Michelle Amarillo, Officer Sanchez, Manal Al-Jibury, and Teresa Marquez,” the court order on Wednesday said. 一年多前，即 2025 年 8 月，阿伦斯提交了那份包含虚假证词及其他错误的法律文书。几周后，新墨西哥州政府提交了一项动议，要求删除该文书中的部分内容。周三的法院命令称：“被告向法院承认，该主要文书包含了来自完全捏造的证人——米歇尔·阿马里洛警官（Officer Michelle Amarillo）、桑切斯警官（Officer Sanchez）、马纳尔·阿尔-吉布里（Manal Al-Jibury）和特蕾莎·马尔克斯（Teresa Marquez）——的虚假证词。”
Aarons further admitted submitting “false testimony from Danny Stanton that he received threats,” “false testimony from Linda Stanton about the threats her husband received,” and “false testimony from Mariah Chavez and Teresa Marquez (fabricated witness) regarding the shooter’s clothing and appearance,” according to the order, which said Aarons also “misrepresented legal authority” in citations to previous cases. 根据该命令，阿伦斯还承认提交了“丹尼·斯坦顿（Danny Stanton）称其收到威胁的虚假证词”、“琳达·斯坦顿（Linda Stanton）关于其丈夫收到威胁的虚假证词”，以及“玛丽亚·查韦斯（Mariah Chavez）和特蕾莎·马尔克斯（虚构证人）关于枪手衣着和外貌的虚假证词”。命令指出，阿伦斯在引用过往案例时还“歪曲了法律依据”。
Aarons told the state Supreme Court at a hearing on August 21 that he fed a computer-generated transcript of the murder trial and other documents related to the case into ChatGPT, which outputted the fake quotes. “It’s of little comfort to know that my stupidity is what brings us together this afternoon,” Aarons told the court. 阿伦斯在 8 月 21 日的听证会上告诉州最高法院，他将一份计算机生成的谋杀案庭审记录及其他相关文件输入了 ChatGPT，而 ChatGPT 输出的内容中包含了这些虚假引语。“知道是因为我的愚蠢才让我们今天下午聚在这里，这并不能带来多少安慰，”阿伦斯对法庭说道。
Aarons indicated that he used a version of ChatGPT powered by the OpenAI o3 model, which was released earlier in 2025. “I assumed that it generated a bulletproof summary of proceedings,” he said at the hearing, explaining that he thought it would be accurate because of how widespread AI use is in the legal and medical fields. 阿伦斯表示，他使用的是由 OpenAI o3 模型驱动的 ChatGPT 版本，该模型于 2025 年初发布。“我以为它生成的庭审摘要是无懈可击的，”他在听证会上解释说，他认为 AI 在法律和医学领域的广泛应用意味着其结果应该是准确的。
Justices lambasted Aarons during last month’s hearing. They expressed surprise that Aarons didn’t know AI tools could generate false information and pointed out that attorneys must verify the accuracy of information no matter where it comes from. Whether a lawyer gets help from an AI tool, a law student, or a fellow attorney, the lawyer signing the brief must attest to its accuracy, they said. 法官们在上个月的听证会上严厉斥责了阿伦斯。他们对阿伦斯不知道 AI 工具会生成虚假信息表示惊讶，并指出无论信息来源如何，律师都必须核实其准确性。他们强调，无论律师是寻求 AI 工具、法学院学生还是同行律师的帮助，签署文书的律师都必须对文书的准确性负责。
Justice C. Shannon Bacon was particularly withering in her criticism of Aarons. She told Aarons that there are “at least eight or nine provisions in the code of conduct that you violated.” Bacon said she was “really struggling with” Aarons’ claim to be unaware of AI hallucinations, noting that her 13-year-old nephew and 75-year-old stepmother are both aware of the problem. C·香农·培根（C. Shannon Bacon）法官对阿伦斯的批评尤为尖锐。她告诉阿伦斯，他“至少违反了行为准则中的八到九项规定”。培根表示，她对阿伦斯声称不知道“AI 幻觉”这一说法感到“非常难以理解”，并指出她 13 岁的侄子和 75 岁的继母都知道这个问题。
“So counsel, do you watch the news? Do you listen to the radio? Do you read anything about what’s going on in the world? Because the problem with lawyers relying on AI hallucinations is an above-the-fold story every single day,” she said. “So either you buried your head in the sand—and that’s a choice to do that, an intentional choice to be uninformed—or you took a gamble, and neither of those are consistent with the code of conduct.” “那么，律师，你看新闻吗？你听广播吗？你读过关于世界上正在发生的事情的任何报道吗？因为律师依赖 AI 幻觉的问题每天都在头版头条，”她说。“所以，要么是你掩耳盗铃——这是一种选择，一种故意让自己保持无知的选择——要么就是你在赌博，而这两种做法都不符合行为准则。”