AI-Generated Fictitious Citations Filed in Supreme Court of Victoria Murder Case
Defense lawyer Rishi Nathwani, a King's Counsel in Australia, filed submissions in a Supreme Court of Victoria murder case containing fictitious legal citations and fabricated quotes generated by artificial intelligence. Justice James Elliott's staff discovered the errors when they could not locate the purported cases, causing a 24-hour delay in the case resolution.
What happened
Defense lawyer Rishi Nathwani, a King's Counsel, filed submissions in a murder case in the Supreme Court of Victoria containing fake quotes and nonexistent case citations generated by artificial intelligence.
The AI-generated errors included fabricated quotes from a speech to the state legislature and nonexistent case citations purportedly from the Supreme Court. The errors were discovered by Justice James Elliott's associates, who could not find the cases and requested copies from the defense lawyers.
The lawyers admitted the citations 'do not exist' and that the submission contained 'fictitious quotes.' The court documents do not identify the generative artificial intelligence system used.
Reported impact
The AI-generated errors caused a 24-hour delay in resolving the murder case. Justice Elliott had hoped to conclude the case on Wednesday but issued his ruling on Thursday.
Justice Elliott stated 'At the risk of understatement, the manner in which these events have unfolded is unsatisfactory' and noted that 'The ability of the court to rely upon the accuracy of submissions made by counsel is fundamental to the due administration of justice.'
Index analysis
The lawyers explained they checked that the initial citations were accurate and wrongly assumed the others would also be correct. The Supreme Court of Victoria released guidelines last year for how lawyers use AI.
Justice Elliott stated 'It is not acceptable for artificial intelligence to be used unless the product of that use is independently and thoroughly verified.'
Governance controls
Defense lawyer Rishi Nathwani apologized to Justice Elliott, stating 'We are deeply sorry and embarrassed for what occurred.' The lawyers took full responsibility for filing the incorrect information.
The court documents show that prosecutor Daniel Porceddu received the submissions but did not check their accuracy.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
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