Judge Faults Federal Government Lawyer for Apparent AI Hallucination in Court Filing
Judge Hala Jarbou of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan issued an order in Daghra v. Hinkley criticizing a federal government lawyer for submitting a legal citation that appears to have been generated by artificial intelligence. The case involved an ICE detainee challenging an automatic stay of his bond order. While the habeas petition was ultimately dismissed as moot after the stay expired, the judge highlighted that the government's response cited a non-existent case, Taylor v. Hott, with a fabricated quote and citation. The court noted that the cited page actually belonged to an unrelated commercial arbitration case. The judge stated that using AI without scrupulously verifying its output violates the duty of candor to the tribunal, but declined to impose sanctions at this time, warning the government to ensure future filings contain only real case law.
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