'AI slop' is threatening courts' ability to function, appeals court says
A Florida state appeals court is addressing the rampant misuse of artificial intelligence in litigation, warning that the rise in “AI slop” is threatening courts’ ability to function. (Image from Shutterstock)
Updated: A Florida state appeals court is addressing the rampant misuse of artificial intelligence in litigation, warning that the rise in “AI slop” is threatening courts’ ability to function.
In a Sept. 16 order to show cause, Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal said it suspected that Betras Kopp attorney Jaclyn Soroka, who filed a petition for a writ of prohibition in a dissolution of marriage case, submitted filings containing components generated by AI. Among them, the court said Soroka leveled several accusations against the trial court judge that were not supported by the official record.
“Counsel’s lengthy and unfocused filings contain gibberish and abuse the litigation process in different ways—including by churning out convoluted, false and frivolous arguments,” said the court in rejecting the petition.
Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal noted that pro se litigants and lawyers can misuse AI to “crank out extensive and confounding documents that cause delay, annoyance and expense to the other side.” It also warned that “busy courts can drown in a flood of filings that are difficult to navigate.”
Soroka denied using AI to draft her filings in a statement to Law.com, which has additional coverage.
“I can confirm that in my practice of law, in all matters, I do not use artificial intelligence to generate court filings,” Soroka reportedly said.
Soroka also pointed out the court has not accused her of citing hallucinated cases or fabricated law, according to Law.com.
In a Sept. 28 response to the court, Soroka noted again that “my citations are real, my cases exist and my language is confident because the record supports it.” After reinspecting about 237 citations in her filings, she found only two “human errors,” which she said were made in her motion to disqualify because of time pressures.
“Words placed in a public forum carry a permanent digital footprint, and I pray that our profession does better than this, because no one deserves to be placed in a category called slop without the authentic source set beside it,” Soroka said.
Reuters has additional reporting.
Updated Oct. 2. at 1:30 p.m. to include information about Jaclyn Soroka’s Sept. 28 response.
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