847

But the explanation and Ramirez’s promise to educate himself on the use of AI wasn’t enough, and the judge chided him for not doing his research before filing. “It is abundantly clear that Mr. Ramirez did not make the requisite reasonable inquiry into the law. Had he expended even minimal effort to do so, he would have discovered that the AI-generated cases do not exist. That the AI-generated excerpts appeared valid to Mr. Ramirez does not relieve him of his duty to conduct a reasonable inquiry,” Judge Dinsmore continued, before recommending that Ramirez be sanctioned for $15,000.

Falling victim to this a year or more after the first guy made headlines for the same is just stupidity.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] ArchRecord@lemm.ee 19 points 1 day ago

For the last time, people need to stop treating AI like it removes their need for research, just because it sounds like it did its research. Check the work your tools do for you, damn it.

[-] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

It's Wikipedia all over again. Absolutely feel free to use the tool, e.g. Wikipedia, ChatGPT, whatever, but holy shit check the sources, my guy. This is embarrassing.

[-] Akuchimoya@startrek.website 8 points 1 day ago

The best use, for me, is asking ChatGPT to give me five (or however many) scholarly, peer-reviewed articles on a topic. Then I search for said articles by title and author name on my school library database.

It saves me so much time compared to doing a keyword search on said same database and reading a ton of abstracts to find a few articles. I can get to actually reading them and working on my assignment way faster.

AI is a great tool for people who use it properly.

[-] ArchRecord@lemm.ee 6 points 1 day ago

I personally just like using it for rewording/re-explaining a topic that I don't quite get. LLMs may not be the best at actually providing factual evidence themselves, but they can be damn good at reformatting any given content/context you give it into almost any format you want.

[-] cmrn@lemmy.world 63 points 1 day ago

I’m all for lawyers using AI, but that’s because I’m also all for them getting punished for every single incorrect thing they bring forward if they do not verify.

[-] echodot@feddit.uk 25 points 1 day ago

That is the problem with AI, if I have to check the output is valid then what's the damn point?

[-] SmoothOperator@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day ago

It's actually often easier to check an answer than coming up with an answer. Finding the square root of 66564 by hand isn't easy, but checking if the answer is 257 is simple enough.

So, in principle, if the AI is better at guessing an answer than we are, it might still be useful. But it depends on the cost of guessing and the cost of checking.

[-] ameancow@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Now if only an AI could actually find the square root of anything. They can't do math, at least the models I've tried. I am aware that if they could do math, it would be a big deal, but really if it can't analyze the actual content in my work files then it's useless to me. It's good at finding mathematical answers by putting in what you expect to get from 120 X 15.5, but doesn't actually know the difference between 1860 and a picture of Judy Hopps in lingerie, and would be equally satisfied giving you one as the other.

[-] SmoothOperator@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago

Well, if by AI you mean large language models, they tend to do better at language tasks than math tasks. So a better example might be that it's easier to get an LLM to write a statement for you and checking if it's correct than writing the statement from the bottom.

The square root was just a clearer example. In the case of OP, it might very well be easier to have an LLM propose relevant case law and then check if that case law exists and is relevant, rather than having to find it yourself from square one.

[-] Jiggs@lemm.ee 19 points 1 day ago

You can get ideas, different approaches and concepts. Sort of rubber ducky thing in my case. It won't solve the problem for me, but might hint me in the right direction.

[-] lefixxx@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

Because AI is better than humans and finding relevant court cases. If you are a lawyer and you cite a court case that you didn't even verify it exists you deserve that sanction and more.

[-] joel_feila@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

Shareholder value. Thimg of all the new 2nd and 3rd yatchs they can buy now

[-] xavier666@lemm.ee 5 points 1 day ago

"Why don't we build another AI to fix the mistakes?"

I require $100 million funding for this though

[-] _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works 187 points 2 days ago

Haven't people already been disbarred over this? Turning in unvetted AI slop should get you fired from any job.

[-] OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml 33 points 2 days ago

Different jurisdiction

[-] dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net 101 points 2 days ago

Hold them in contempt. Put them in jail for a few days, then declare a mistrial due to incompetent counsel. For repeat offenders, file a formal complaint to the state bar.

[-] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 46 points 2 days ago

Eh, they should file a complaint the first time, and the state bar can decide what to do about it.

[-] AbsoluteChicagoDog@lemm.ee 9 points 2 days ago

"We have investigated ourselves and found nothing wrong"

[-] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 29 points 2 days ago

The bar might get pretty ruthless for fake case citations.

[-] sik0fewl@lemmy.ca 10 points 2 days ago

I would hope that gross negligence and incompetence with come with severe consequences.

[-] Telorand@reddthat.com 146 points 2 days ago

“Mr. Ramirez explained that he had used AI before to assist with legal matters, such as drafting agreements, and did not know that AI was capable of generating fictitious cases and citations,” Judge Dinsmore wrote in court documents filed last week.

Jesus Christ, y'all. It's like Boomers trying to figure out the internet all over again. Just because AI (probably) can't lie doesn't mean it can't be earnestly wrong. It's not some magical fact machine; it's fancy predictive text.

It will be a truly scary time if people like Ramirez become judges one day and have forgotten how or why it's important to check people's sources yourself, robot or not.

[-] 4am@lemm.ee 47 points 2 days ago

AI, specifically Laege language Models, do not “lie” or tell “the truth”. They are statistical models and work out, based on the prompt you feed them, what a reasonable sounding response would be.

This is why they’re uncreative and they “hallucinate”. It’s not thinking about your question and answering it, it’s calculating what words will placate you, using a calculation that runs on a computer the size of AWS.

[-] OccultIconoclast@reddthat.com 8 points 1 day ago

It's like when you're having a conversation on autopilot.

"Mum, can I play with my frisbee?" Sure, honey. "Mum, can I have an ice cream from the fridge?" Sure can. "Mum, can I invade Poland?" Absolutely, whatever you want.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] catloaf@lemm.ee 62 points 2 days ago

No probably about it, it definitely can't lie. Lying requires knowledge and intent, and GPTs are just text generators that have neither.

[-] Bogasse@lemmy.ml 12 points 2 days ago

A bit out of context my you recall me of some thinking I heard recently about lying vs. bullshitting.

Lying, as you said, requires quite a lot of energy : you need an idea of what the truth is and you engage yourself in a long-term struggle to maintain your lie and keep it coherent as the world goes on.

Bullshit on the other hand is much more accessible : you just have to say things and never look back on them. It's very easy to pile a ton of them and it's much harder to attack you about any of them because they're much less consequent.

So in that view, a bullshitter doesn't give any shit about the truth, while a liar is a bit more "noble". 0

[-] ggppjj@lemmy.world 14 points 2 days ago

I think the important point is that LLMs as we understand them do not have intent. They are fantastic at providing output that appears to meet the requirements set in the input text, and when they actually do meet those requirements instead of just seeming to they can provide genuinely helpful info and also it's very easy to not immediately know the difference between output that looks correct and satisfies the purpose of an LLM vs actually being correct and satisfying the purpose of the user.

load more comments (6 replies)
[-] FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io 12 points 2 days ago
[-] Sidyctism2@discuss.tchncs.de 19 points 2 days ago

a lie is a statement that the speaker knows to be wrong. wouldnt claiming that AIs can lie imply cognition on their part?

[-] Randelung@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I've had this lengthy discussion before. Some people define a lie as an untrue statement, while others additionally require intent to deceive.

E: you can stop arguing about definitions and logic. The fact remains that some people will refer to untrue statements as lies, no matter what the dictionary says.

[-] prole 1 points 1 day ago

It can't just be the first statement, as that would preclude lies of omission.

[-] Telorand@reddthat.com 9 points 2 days ago

I would fall into the latter category. Lots of people are earnestly wrong without being liars.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (7 replies)
load more comments (11 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Ulrich@feddit.org 12 points 2 days ago

It can and will lie. It has admitted to doing so after I probed it long enough about the things it was telling me.

[-] ryven@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Lying requires intent. Currently popular LLMs build responses one token at a time—when it starts writing a sentence, it doesn't know how it will end, and therefore can't have an opinion about the truth value of it. (I'd go further and claim it can't really "have an opinion" about anything, but even if it can, it can neither lie nor tell the truth on purpose.) It can consider its own output (and therefore potentially have an opinion about whether it is true or false) only after it has been generated, when generating the next token.

"Admitting" that it's lying only proves that it has been exposed to "admission" as a pattern in its training data.

[-] ggppjj@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago

I strongly worry that humans really weren't ready for this "good enough" product to be their first "real" interaction with what can easily pass as an AGI without near-philosophical knowledge of the difference between an AGI and an LLM.

It's obscenely hard to keep the fact that it is a very good pattern-matching auto-correct in mind when you're several comments deep into a genuinely actually no lie completely pointless debate against spooky math.

load more comments (16 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (8 replies)
[-] k0e3@lemmy.ca 17 points 1 day ago

Works tirelessly? No, AI here!

[-] lefixxx@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago

Nice all the work that the lawyers saved will be offset by judges having to verify all the cases cited

[-] communism@lemmy.ml 39 points 2 days ago

Great news for defendants though. I hope at my next trial I look over at the prosecutor's screen and they're reading off ChatGPT lmao

[-] TheOakTree@lemm.ee 20 points 2 days ago

So long as your own lawyer isn't doing the same, of course :)

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] salacious_coaster@infosec.pub 24 points 2 days ago

But I was hysterically assured that AI was going to take all our jobs?

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] gravitywell@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

Why dont more AI services cite sources? Or just as a lawyer add that to your prompt and just check if they exist? I get fake sources on OpenAI sometimes but its obvious because the links are dead.

load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2025
847 points (100.0% liked)

Technology

63897 readers
5967 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS