Assistant US Attorney Resigns After Filing AI-Generated Brief with Fabricated Content
Assistant U.S. Attorney Rudy Renfer resigned after filing a court brief containing AI-generated fabricated citations and misquoted case law in a Department of Defense health care benefits lawsuit. U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert T. Numbers II found the conduct intentional and found Renfer had made false statements about how the errors occurred, citing a pattern of errors in his other filings.
What happened
Assistant U.S. Attorney Rudy Renfer filed a response brief in a health care benefits lawsuit brought by retired U.S. Air Force Col. Derence V. Fivehouse against the U.S. Department of Defense. The brief contained AI-generated fabricated quotations and misquoted case holdings.
Fivehouse, who is also a licensed attorney, alerted the court to the fabricated content. U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert T. Numbers II found that Renfer made false or misleading statements about how the errors occurred.
Reported impact
Renfer told the court that using AI was "the worst decision I've ever made in my 30-year career." Judge Numbers expressed grave concerns about the pattern of errors in Renfer's filings beyond the AI brief, characterizing the conduct as "disappointing" and showing a lack of candor.
Index analysis
Judge Numbers questioned Renfer's characterization that the error was unintentional, stating that "it sounds like you intentionally used AI, and intentionally filed it to the court." Numbers also questioned why Renfer was using AI to perform basic issue spotting work that attorneys do every day.
Governance controls
Rather than defend against potential sanctions, Renfer resigned from his position during the Tuesday show-cause hearing. W. Ellis Boyle, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, appeared in court and said the office will address its policies regarding attorney use of AI.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.