Plaintiffs firm fined for filing 'hallucinated' material in OnlyFans case
A federal judge in California fined a plaintiffs law firm and one of its partners $10,000 for misusing artificial intelligence in a lawsuit involving the parent company of OnlyFans, the adult content social media site. (Image from Shutterstock)
A federal judge in California fined a plaintiffs law firm and one of its partners $10,000 for misusing artificial intelligence in a lawsuit involving the parent company of OnlyFans, the adult content social media site.
U.S. District Judge Fred Slaughter of the Central District of California found on Friday that Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro and partner Robert Carey violated a rule that requires legal arguments to be “warranted by existing law” when filing four briefs that included “hallucinated” material, Reuters reports.
The judge additionally imposed a $3,000 sanction on co-counsel Celeste Boyd, who he said used ChatGPT to draft and edit portions of the briefs but failed to verify the material, Reuters also reports.
Carey said in a statement published by Reuters no one at Hagens Berman used AI when preparing the briefs. He said the fake citations were added by outside co-counsel “without adherence to Hagens Berman’s AI protocols.”
Neither Hagens Berman nor Boyd responded to Reuters’ request for comment.
Hagens Berman, which is headquartered in Seattle, represents OnlyFans users who claim that its parent company Fenix International Ltd. connects subscribers to professional “chatters” who impersonate creators in a scheme to convince them to spend more money, Reuters says.
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