{ "meta": { "name": "Ukweli Integrity Watch — The State of Document Integrity", "description": "A verified, continuously updated public dataset of real-world incidents in which documents were withdrawn, refunded, corrected, retracted, or sanctioned because they contained AI-generated fabrications — fabricated citations, references, sources, quotes, or claims.", "homepage": "https://ukweli.io", "publisher": "The Orkestra / Ukweli", "license": "CC BY 4.0 — free to reuse with attribution to Ukweli (The Orkestra).", "last_updated": "2026-10-13", "record_count": 103, "verification_rule": "Every incident is confirmed against at least one reputable source (mainstream news, legal/official, or the organisation itself). Nothing unverifiable is listed. Accuracy is non-negotiable — Ukweli is a truth product.", "canonical_sectors": [ "Legal", "Government / Public sector", "Consulting / Corporate", "Academic / Research", "Media" ], "consequence_ladder_low_to_high": [ "Corrected", "Refunded", "Withdrawn", "Sanctioned" ], "fabrication_types": [ "Legal authorities", "References & studies", "Quotes", "Sources & experts", "Claims & data" ], "fields": { "id": "stable identifier", "incident_date": "date the document failure occurred / was actioned (precision in date_precision)", "date_precision": "day | month | year", "date_logged": "date the incident was added to the register", "org": "organisation / body responsible for the document", "sector": "one of the canonical sectors", "country": "country or region", "doc_type": "type of document", "title": "document or case title", "what_fabricated": "description of the AI fabrication, with figures where known", "headline_figure": "short tag for the headline fact", "consequence_type": "Corrected | Refunded | Withdrawn | Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "one-line description of the consequence", "source_urls": "1-2 reputable sources confirming the incident", "fab_types": "fabrication type(s), primary first" }, "notes": "Neutral verified record only. Ukweli's product verdicts and internal/presentational fields are intentionally excluded; adjacent / out-of-scope items (not verified to the register's rule) are not included. Every incident is confirmed against at least one reputable source." }, "macro_finding": { "headline": "1 in 277", "headline_unit": "biomedical papers (early 2026) cites a fabricated reference", "trend": "a 12-fold rise in two years", "trend_series": [ { "period": "2023", "rate": "1 in 2,828" }, { "period": "2025", "rate": "1 in 458" }, { "period": "early 2026", "rate": "1 in 277" } ], "method": "Columbia Nursing AI-assisted audit of ~2.5M PubMed-indexed papers; 97.1M references checked against PubMed, Crossref, OpenAlex and Google Scholar; 4,046 fabricated references identified across 2,810 papers.", "uncorrected": "98.4% of flagged papers remain in the literature without correction.", "lead": "Columbia University team led by Maxim Topaz", "published": "2026-05-07", "publication": "The Lancet (correspondence) / Columbia School of Nursing", "source_urls": [ "https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)00603-3/fulltext", "https://www.nursing.columbia.edu/news/nearly-3-000-peer-reviewed-medical-papers-have-fake-citations-columbia-nursing-ai-assisted-audit-finds", "https://retractionwatch.com/2026/05/07/one-in-277-pubmed-indexed-papers-in-2026-shows-fabricated-references-says-analysis/", "https://www.statnews.com/2026/05/07/lancet-study-finds-steep-rise-fraudulent-citations-academic-papers/" ], "inflection_note": "The sharp rise began mid-2024, as AI writing tools spread." }, "incidents": [ { "id": "2026-05-jme-biswas-pharma-ai", "incident_date": "2026-05-28", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-07-13", "org": "Journal of Medical Ethics (BMJ Group)", "sector": "Academic / Research", "country": "United Kingdom", "doc_type": "Peer-reviewed journal article", "title": "Paper on AI, biased algorithms and inequities in health care", "what_fabricated": "The journal's investigation found several cited references did not exist. The sole author — confirmed to be a high-school student (affiliation listed as Shrewsbury Public Schools, Massachusetts) — used generative AI to \"identify and understand referenced sources\" and did not verify the references before submission. The retraction notice also cites \"evidence of peer review manipulation.\"", "headline_figure": "References that do not exist, plus peer-review manipulation", "consequence_type": "Withdrawn", "consequence_detail": "Paper (published September 2025) retracted; retraction notice dated 28 May 2026. The author confirmed to the journal he was a high-school student and agreed to the retraction. Surfaced publicly by Retraction Watch on 6 July 2026.", "source_urls": [ "https://retractionwatch.com/2026/07/06/ethics-journal-retracts-paper-by-high-school-student-for-ai-peer-review-manipulation/", "https://jme.bmj.com/content/early/2026/05/27/jme-2025-110913ret" ], "fab_types": [ "References & studies" ] }, { "id": "2025-09-singapore-tajudin-sghcr33", "incident_date": "2025-09", "date_precision": "month", "date_logged": "2026-07-13", "org": "General Division of the High Court of Singapore (Assistant Registrar Tan Yu Qing)", "sector": "Legal", "country": "Singapore", "doc_type": "Written submissions", "title": "Tajudin bin Gulam Rasul v Suriaya bte Haja Mohideen [2025] SGHCR 33", "what_fabricated": "Written submissions filed 1 June 2025 cited a case — fabricated name and citation, generated by a generative-AI tool used by a junior lawyer — for the proposition that ad hoc loans between acquaintances are not moneylending. The authority was not in the bundle and could not be traced. Counsel first described it as a clerical error and admitted the citation was fictitious, and that AI had been used, only when pressed by the court.", "headline_figure": "S$800 personal costs — Singapore's first AI-citation sanction", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Applying the Ridehalgh v Horsefield test, the court found the conduct improper, unreasonable and negligent and ordered claimants' counsel to personally pay the defendant S$800 within 14 days. Reported as the first Singapore judgment to penalise improper reliance on AI in litigation.", "source_urls": [ "https://irblaw.com.sg/learning-centre/singapore-high-court-sanctions-lawyer-for-ai-generated-fictitious-case-2025-sghcr-33/" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2026-04-nebraska-lake-suspension", "incident_date": "2026-04-16", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-07-13", "org": "Nebraska Supreme Court", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Appellate brief (divorce appeal)", "title": "Nebraska Supreme Court suspends attorney over AI filing (Greg Lake)", "what_fabricated": "A divorce-appeal brief the court found \"potentially AI-generated\" was \"filled with fictitious cases … and fictitious quotations from statutes.\" The court listed 20 examples of fictional quotes, incorrect case numbers, or misrepresented holdings, including a wholly fictitious 2019 case, Kennedy v. Kennedy, cited with fabricated quotations. By opposing counsel's count, 57 of 63 references in the brief were defective.", "headline_figure": "First US attorney suspended from practice over AI filings", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "In a unanimous 20 March 2026 opinion the Supreme Court rejected the briefs and referred attorney Greg Lake to the state's Counsel for Discipline for a candour failure after he repeatedly denied using AI; he later admitted it by affidavit. A temporary suspension from the practice of law took effect 16 April 2026 — reported as the first US bar-discipline action to remove a lawyer from practice over AI-related filing errors.", "source_urls": [ "https://nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/news/news-articles/nebraska-supreme-court-blasts-ai-authored-court-filings-recommends-discipline/", "https://www.wowt.com/2026/04/16/nebraska-supreme-court-suspends-omaha-attorney-over-ai-use/" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities", "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2026-06-kpmg-agentic-ai", "incident_date": "2026-06-13", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "KPMG", "sector": "Consulting / Corporate", "country": "Global / UK", "doc_type": "Thought-leadership report", "title": "Redefining Excellence in the Age of Agentic AI", "what_fabricated": "Of 45 citations, only 5 pointed to real, intact sources; 40 of 45 titles were fabricated. Case studies about UBS, the UK NHS, Swiss Federal Railways and Transport for London were disputed as inaccurate by the named organisations.", "headline_figure": "40 of 45 citations fabricated", "consequence_type": "Withdrawn", "consequence_detail": "Report pulled on 13 June 2026 after GPTZero documented widespread citation problems and named organisations disputed the case studies.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/06/12/kpmgs-ai-report-turns-into-a-demo-of-ai-hallucinations/5255029", "https://www.internationalaccountingbulletin.com/news/kpmg-drops-ai-report-after-false-case-studies-exposed/" ], "fab_types": [ "References & studies", "Claims & data" ] }, { "id": "2026-04-dcdt-sa-ai-policy", "incident_date": "2026-06-12", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-12", "org": "DCDT (SA Department of Communications & Digital Technologies)", "sector": "Government / Public sector", "country": "South Africa", "doc_type": "Draft National AI Policy", "title": "Draft National AI Policy", "what_fabricated": "At least 6 of the 67 entries in its reference list were fictitious — citations attributed to recognised academic journals whose editors confirmed the articles had never been published.", "headline_figure": "Six fictitious sources in a national policy", "consequence_type": "Withdrawn", "consequence_detail": "Published for comment 10 Apr 2026, withdrawal announced 26 Apr 2026 by Communications Minister Solly Malatsi and gazetted 12 Jun 2026; two DCDT officials placed on precautionary suspension.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.news24.com/business/tech/govts-draft-ai-policy-cites-fictitious-references-experts-believe-are-ai-hallucinations-20260424-1085", "https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/minister-announces-withdrawal-draft-ai-policy", "https://www.semafor.com/article/04/29/2026/south-africa-withdraws-ai-policy-over-ai-generated-sources", "https://theconversation.com/south-africas-ai-policy-cited-fake-research-created-by-ai-what-lessons-need-to-be-learned-281671", "https://www.itweb.co.za/article/sas-draft-ai-policy-officially-retracted/LPp6V7rBVwJ7DKQz", "https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/202604/54477gen3880.pdf", "https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/202606/54840gen3978.pdf" ], "fab_types": [ "References & studies" ] }, { "id": "2025-10-deloitte-australia-dewr", "incident_date": "2025-10-06", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-12", "org": "Deloitte", "sector": "Consulting / Corporate", "country": "Australia", "doc_type": "Government welfare compliance report", "title": "DEWR welfare report (A$439,000)", "what_fabricated": "Fabricated academic references plus a quote misattributed to a Federal Court judge.", "headline_figure": "A$439,000 report, partly refunded", "consequence_type": "Refunded", "consequence_detail": "Deloitte partially refunded the A$439,000 report; AI use disclosed in the revised version.", "source_urls": [ "https://fortune.com/2025/10/07/deloitte-ai-australia-government-report-hallucinations-technology-290000-refund/", "https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/06/deloitte_ai_report_australia/" ], "fab_types": [ "References & studies", "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2025-06-uk-high-court-alharoun", "incident_date": "2025-06-06", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-12", "org": "England & Wales High Court (Dame Victoria Sharp, President of the King's Bench Division)", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United Kingdom", "doc_type": "Court filing", "title": "Al-Haroun v Qatar National Bank (£89m claim)", "what_fabricated": "18 of 45 citations were fabricated.", "headline_figure": "18 of 45 citations fabricated", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Lawyers referred to their regulators; the court warned such filings can amount to contempt or criminal proceedings.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2025/06/10/826862.htm", "https://www.jurist.org/news/2025/06/uk-judge-warns-lawyers-of-consequences-for-misusing-ai-in-court-filings/" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2025-ey-canada-loyalty-fraud", "incident_date": "2026-05", "date_precision": "month", "date_logged": "2026-06-12", "org": "EY (Ernst & Young) Canada", "sector": "Consulting / Corporate", "country": "Canada", "doc_type": "Cybersecurity / loyalty-fraud study", "title": "Points of Attack: Uncovering Cyber Threats and Fraud in Loyalty Systems", "what_fabricated": "16 of 27 sources fabricated, misattributed or broken, including an invented McKinsey statistic.", "headline_figure": "16 of 27 sources fabricated, misattributed or broken", "consequence_type": "Withdrawn", "consequence_detail": "GPTZero's investigations branch published its analysis on 14 May 2026; EY Canada removed the study “Points of Attack: Uncovering Cyber Threats and Fraud in Loyalty Systems” from its website following that publication, reported by Consulting.ca on 19 May 2026. EY said it was reviewing why the study was published.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.consulting.ca/news/5023/ey-canada-takes-down-study-after-apparent-ai-hallucinations", "https://gptzero.me/investigations/ey" ], "fab_types": [ "References & studies", "Claims & data" ] }, { "id": "2026-05-oregon-federal-110k", "incident_date": "2025-12-12", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-22", "org": "US District Court, District of Oregon (Magistrate Judge Mark D. Clarke)", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Summary-judgment briefs", "title": "Couvrette v. Wisnovsky — Oregon federal sanction (~$110,000)", "what_fabricated": "15 references to non-existent cases and 8 fabricated quotations; one attorney then attempted a cover-up by removing the false material and refiling.", "headline_figure": "$110,000 penalty", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "~$110,000 total — $80,000 in attorney fees and about $15,000 in fines against attorney Stephen Brigandi, plus $14,000 in fees against local counsel Tim Murphy. Case dismissed with prejudice. The largest AI-hallucination sanction handed down by an Oregon federal judge.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/oregon-federal-judge-hands-down-110000-penalty-for-ai-errors" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities", "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2026-06-oregon-supreme-court", "incident_date": "2026-06-04", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-22", "org": "Oregon Supreme Court", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Court filing — response to petition for review", "title": "Witkin v. McGreevy, S072692 (Or.) — respondent's response to petition for review struck, $500 sanction", "what_fabricated": "Legal authorities. The petitioner on review's reply said the response relied on authorities that could not be found in the Oregon Reports; the court, on its own motion, struck the response. The fetched summary of the order has the court describing the citations as fictitious and recording that the respondent admitted using generative AI to create the pleading; the owner is to confirm the exact wording from the order.", "headline_figure": "$500 sanction; response struck", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Order of 4 June 2026, Chief Justice Flynn: the court, on its own motion, struck respondent on review's Response to Petition for Review (Docket Entry No. 7); directed the respondent or his counsel to pay $500 within 21 days — the respondent having stipulated that a financial sanction of $500 is appropriate; allowed an amended response within 14 days, limited to correcting the descriptions of the cited authority and accompanied by a certification that every cited source exists; and granted the petitioner's motion for judicial notice. The proceeding was not dismissed.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.courts.oregon.gov/publications/sc/SC%20Opinions/Order_Miscellaneous_Case_Order_Witkins_v_McGreevy_S072692.pdf", "https://www.opb.org/article/2026/06/05/oregon-supreme-court-ai-falsehoods/" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2026-06-ninth-circuit-suspensions", "incident_date": "2026-06-04", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-22", "org": "US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Appellate briefs", "title": "Ninth Circuit suspends two attorneys", "what_fabricated": "Fabricated citations; the attorneys characterised the errors as typographical mistakes that did not involve AI.", "headline_figure": "Two attorneys suspended 6 months", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Six-month suspension from practice before the court plus $2,500 in sanctions against each attorney.", "source_urls": [ "http://www.metnews.com/articles/2026/sanctions_060426.htm" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2026-04-alabama-supreme-court", "incident_date": "2026-04-24", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-22", "org": "Alabama Supreme Court", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Appellate briefs", "title": "Alabama Supreme Court tosses appeal", "what_fabricated": "Numerous invalid, irrelevant and outright fabricated citations, many AI-generated and to cases that do not exist; the apologising footnote cited two further non-existent cases.", "headline_figure": "Appeal dismissed; $17,200 in costs", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Appeal dismissed; $17,200 in fees and costs; referral to the Alabama State Bar; barred from further filing without a second attorney's sign-off.", "source_urls": [ "https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/alabama-justices-toss-case-over-egregious-attorney-ai-misuse" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2025-11-deloitte-canada-nl", "incident_date": "2025-11-25", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-12", "org": "Deloitte", "sector": "Consulting / Corporate", "country": "Canada (Newfoundland & Labrador)", "doc_type": "Health-workforce report", "title": "Newfoundland & Labrador health-workforce report (CA$1.6M)", "what_fabricated": "At least 4 non-existent academic citations in the $1.6M, 526-page Health Human Resources Plan. Deloitte's spokesperson is quoted by Fortune (25 Nov 2025) saying AI 'was not used to write the report' and was 'selectively used to support a small number of research citations'; Deloitte stands behind the report's recommendations.", "headline_figure": "CA$1.6M report, fake citations", "consequence_type": "Corrected", "consequence_detail": "Deloitte acknowledged erroneous citations; stands behind the report.", "source_urls": [ "https://fortune.com/2025/11/25/deloitte-caught-fabricated-ai-generated-research-million-dollar-report-canada-government/", "https://www.semafor.com/article/11/26/2025/deloitte-faces-new-scrutiny-over-ai-generated-mistakes" ], "fab_types": [ "References & studies" ] }, { "id": "2023-06-mata-v-avianca", "incident_date": "2023-06-22", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-12", "org": "US District Court, Southern District of New York", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Court filing", "title": "Mata v. Avianca", "what_fabricated": "The original 2023 fake-citation case — ChatGPT-invented cases cited in a federal filing.", "headline_figure": "The foundational case (2023)", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "$5,000 sanction against the lawyers; the case that put AI-fabricated citations on the map.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.nhd.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/Mata-v-Avianca-sanctions-order.PDF" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2024-01-park-v-kim", "incident_date": "2024-01-30", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "US Second Circuit", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Appellate reply brief", "title": "Park v. Kim", "what_fabricated": "Cited a non-existent decision (Matter of Bourguignon v. Coordinated Behavioral Health Servs.) that the attorney admitted was generated by ChatGPT.", "headline_figure": "Fake case invented by ChatGPT", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "The Second Circuit referred attorney Jae S. Lee to its Grievance Panel for possible disciplinary proceedings.", "source_urls": [ "https://reason.com/volokh/2024/01/30/second-circuit-refers-lawyer-for-disciplinary-proceedings-based-on-ai-hallucinated-case-in-brief/", "https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca2/22-2057/22-2057-2024-01-30.html" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2024-02-zhang-v-chen", "incident_date": "2024-02-20", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "BC Supreme Court (Canada)", "sector": "Legal", "country": "Canada", "doc_type": "Family-court application", "title": "Zhang v. Chen (2024 BCSC 285)", "what_fabricated": "An application cited two ChatGPT-hallucinated cases that do not exist in any record.", "headline_figure": "Two fabricated cases; lawyer pays costs", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Lawyer Chong Ke reprimanded; ordered to personally pay opposing counsel's costs and to review all her files for AI-generated citations.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/lawyer-chatgpt-fake-precedent-1.7126393", "https://www.mccarthy.ca/en/insights/blogs/techlex/landmark-decision-about-hallucinated-legal-authorities-bc-signals-caution-leaves-questions-about-requirement-disclose-use-ai-tools" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2024-tx-monk", "incident_date": "2024", "date_precision": "year", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "US District Court, E.D. Texas", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Court filing", "title": "Brandon Monk sanction", "what_fabricated": "Case citations to non-existent cases and fabricated quotations generated by AI.", "headline_figure": "$2,000 penalty + AI ethics course", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Judge Marcia A. Crone ordered a $2,000 penalty and required completion of a continuing-legal-education course on generative AI.", "source_urls": [ "https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/lawyer-sanctioned-over-ai-hallucinated-case-cites-quotations" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities", "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2025-02-wadsworth-walmart", "incident_date": "2025-02-24", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "US District Court, District of Wyoming", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Pretrial motions", "title": "Wadsworth v. Walmart Inc.", "what_fabricated": "8 of 9 cases cited in the motions did not exist — generated by the firm's in-house AI tool 'MX2.law'.", "headline_figure": "8 of 9 cases fake", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Three Morgan & Morgan attorneys sanctioned $5,000 total; lead counsel removed from the case.", "source_urls": [ "https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/morgan-morgan-lawyers-fined-for-hallucinated-ai-citations", "https://reason.com/volokh/2025/02/25/sanctions-on-lawyers-for-filing-motion-containing-ai-hallucinated-cases/" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2025-05-lacey-statefarm", "incident_date": "2025-05-06", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "US District Court, Central District of California", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Supplemental brief", "title": "Lacey v. State Farm", "what_fabricated": "About 9 of 27 citations were wrong and at least 2 cited authorities did not exist; AI generated the first draft.", "headline_figure": "~9 of 27 cites wrong", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Special Master imposed a $31,100 sanction on two firms (Ellis George, K&L Gates) and struck their briefs.", "source_urls": [ "https://reason.com/volokh/2025/05/13/ai-hallucination-in-filings-involving-14th-largest-u-s-law-firm-lead-to-31k-in-sanctions/", "https://abovethelaw.com/2025/05/law-firms-use-artificial-intelligence-to-earn-very-real-31k-sanction/" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2025-07-johnson-dunn", "incident_date": "2025-07-23", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "US District Court, Northern District of Alabama", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Motions", "title": "Johnson v. Dunn (Butler Snow LLP)", "what_fabricated": "Motions contained false case citations the attorneys confirmed were ChatGPT hallucinations.", "headline_figure": "Fake cites; firm disqualified", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Three Butler Snow attorneys publicly reprimanded, disqualified from the case, and referred to the Alabama State Bar.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.courthousenews.com/johnson-vs-dunn-attorney-sanctions-order/", "https://reason.com/volokh/2025/05/21/ai-hallucinated-citation-case-involving-prominent-alabama-firm-with-over-350-lawyers-nationwide/" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2025-08-mavy-ssa", "incident_date": "2025-08-14", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "US District Court, District of Arizona", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Social Security disability appeal brief", "title": "Mavy v. Commissioner of Social Security", "what_fabricated": "Of 19 citations, only 5-7 existed; opinions were falsely attributed to three real Arizona federal judges.", "headline_figure": "~12 of 19 cites fabricated", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Rule 11 violation found; attorney's pro hac vice status revoked, brief struck, state bar and the three judges notified.", "source_urls": [ "https://ppc.land/arizona-court-sanctions-lawyer-for-ai-generated-false-citations/", "https://www.abajournal.com/web/article/court-rejects-monetary-sanctions-for-ai-generated-fake-cases-citing-lawyers-tragic-personal-circumstances" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities", "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2025-09-noland-mostafavi", "incident_date": "2025-09-12", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Appellate briefs", "title": "Noland v. Land of the Free, L.P.", "what_fabricated": "21 of 23 quotes from cited cases were fabricated; briefs drafted with ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Grok.", "headline_figure": "21 of 23 quotes made up", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Attorney fined $10,000 — reported as the largest California sanction of its kind — for a frivolous appeal with fake citations.", "source_urls": [ "https://calmatters.org/economy/technology/2025/09/chatgpt-lawyer-fine-ai-regulation/", "https://www.dailyjournal.com/articles/387652-state-court-of-appeal-issues-1st-opinion-sanctioning-lawyer-for-ai-hallucinations" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities", "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2025-10-chang-texas", "incident_date": "2025-10-22", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "Texas state district court (Travis County)", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Court motion", "title": "Lawrence Chang malpractice matter", "what_fabricated": "At least six cited cases said something different from what the brief claimed; quotes blamed on AI.", "headline_figure": "6+ misquoted/bogus cites", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Attorney ordered to pay $2,000 in opposing counsel's fees and to write a letter explaining the AI error.", "source_urls": [ "https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/texas-attorney-sanctioned-over-ai-generated-citations-in-filing", "https://www.law360.com/pulse/articles/2301530/texas-atty-dinged-for-ai-generated-fake-citations-in-briefs" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities", "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2025-11-ramirez-indiana", "incident_date": "2025-05-28", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "US District Court, Southern District of Indiana", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Three ERISA briefs", "title": "Mid Central Operating Engineers Health & Welfare Fund v. HoosierVac LLC, No. 2:24-cv-00326-JPH-MJD (S.D. Ind.)", "what_fabricated": "Fake AI-generated citations across three separate briefs.", "headline_figure": "$6,000 personal sanction; fake cites in 3 briefs", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "On 28 May 2025 the district court adopted in part the magistrate judge's recommendation of a $15,000 sanction and personally sanctioned the attorney $6,000 for filing briefs with AI-fabricated citations on three occasions.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-insd-2_24-cv-00326/pdf/USCOURTS-insd-2_24-cv-00326-5.pdf", "https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-insd-2_24-cv-00326/pdf/USCOURTS-insd-2_24-cv-00326-3.pdf", "https://www.theindianalawyer.com/articles/federal-magistrate-in-indy-calls-for-discipline-against-attorney-who-used-false-ai-citations" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2026-03-whiting-sixth-circuit", "incident_date": "2026-03", "date_precision": "month", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Consolidated appellate briefs", "title": "Whiting v. City of Athens, Tennessee", "what_fabricated": "More than two dozen citations across three consolidated appeals were incorrect, misrepresented, or entirely non-existent.", "headline_figure": "$30K, 24+ bad cites", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Two attorneys ordered to pay $15,000 each ($30,000 total) plus double costs — the stiffest penalty available under Rule 38.", "source_urls": [ "https://natlawreview.com/article/sixth-circuit-sanctions-attorneys-fake-citations-what-does-mean-use-ai", "https://www.jdjournal.com/2026/03/16/us-appeals-court-fines-lawyers-30k-over-ai-filing-errors/" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2025-in-re-martin", "incident_date": "2025", "date_precision": "year", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "US Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Illinois", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Bankruptcy briefs", "title": "In re Martin, 670 B.R. 636", "what_fabricated": "Portions of the briefs were prepared with AI and contained fabricated citations, violating Bankruptcy Rule 9011.", "headline_figure": "Rule 9011 AI sanctions", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "A bankruptcy judge sanctioned two lawyers for fabricated AI citations in violation of Rule 9011.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.pbwt.com/bankruptcy-update-blog/bankruptcy-court-sanctions-lawyer-for-relying-on-ai-generated-legal-research" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2025-04-ayinde-haringey", "incident_date": "2025-04-03", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "High Court of Justice (King's Bench Division)", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United Kingdom", "doc_type": "Grounds for judicial review", "title": "R (Ayinde) v London Borough of Haringey", "what_fabricated": "Grounds for judicial review cited five non-existent authorities, including a fabricated Court of Appeal decision.", "headline_figure": "5 fake cases", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Ritchie J ordered the barrister and law centre to pay GBP 2,000 each in wasted costs and referred them to the BSB and SRA.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Ayinde-v-LB-Haringey-Judgment-Ritchie-J-03.04.25-HD-2.pdf", "https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/appalling-high-court-judge-alerts-regulators-over-fake-case-authorities/5123200.article" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2024-10-dayal-australia", "incident_date": "2024-10", "date_precision": "month", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia", "sector": "Legal", "country": "Australia", "doc_type": "List and summary of authorities", "title": "Dayal [2024] FedCFamC2F 1166", "what_fabricated": "An AI-generated list of authorities cited cases that did not exist, with inaccurate summaries; none verified before filing.", "headline_figure": "First Aussie lawyer regulated over AI fakes", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Referred to the Victorian Legal Services Commissioner, which restricted the solicitor's practising certificate and imposed two years of supervised practice.", "source_urls": [ "https://lsbc.vic.gov.au/news-updates/news/statement-mr-dayal-matter", "http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/FedCFamC2F/2024/1166.html" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2026-01-reddy-saroya-alberta", "incident_date": "2026-01-22", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "Court of Appeal of Alberta", "sector": "Legal", "country": "Canada", "doc_type": "Appellant's factum", "title": "Reddy v. Saroya, 2026 ABCA 20", "what_fabricated": "A factum drafted with generative AI cited non-existent authorities — nearly half the table of authorities did not exist.", "headline_figure": "CAD 17,550 personal costs", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "The Court of Appeal ordered CAD 17,550 in costs personally against lead counsel.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.canlii.org/en/ab/abca/doc/2026/2026abca20/2026abca20.html", "https://www.blakes.com/insights/reality-check-alberta-court-weighs-costs-against-counsel-for-ai-generated-case-law-hallucinations/" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2025-01-mavundla-kzn", "incident_date": "2025-01-08", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "KwaZulu-Natal High Court, Pietermaritzburg", "sector": "Legal", "country": "South Africa", "doc_type": "Heads of argument / notice of appeal", "title": "Mavundla v MEC: COGTA KZN", "what_fabricated": "Of nine cited cases, only two were found to actually exist; the fabricated authorities were most likely AI-generated.", "headline_figure": "7 of 9 cited cases did not exist", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "The firm ordered to pay costs of the additional appearances; judgment referred to the Legal Practice Council for investigation.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAKZPHC/2025/2.html", "https://www.michalsons.com/blog/mavundla-v-mec-department-of-co-operative-government-and-traditional-affairs-kwazulu-natal-genai/77431" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2026-01-bombay-bahry", "incident_date": "2026-01-07", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "Bombay High Court", "sector": "Legal", "country": "India", "doc_type": "Written submissions", "title": "Deepak Shivkumar Bahry v. Heart & Soul Entertainment", "what_fabricated": "Submissions cited a non-existent judgment that the court and its law clerks could not trace despite extensive verification.", "headline_figure": "Fake judgment; Rs 50,000 cost order", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Application dismissed with Rs 50,000 costs for 'dumping' unverified machine-generated content on the court.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.barandbench.com/news/bombay-high-court-imposes-50000-costs-on-litigant-for-unverified-ai-generated-submissions", "https://www.livelaw.in/high-court/bombay-high-court/ai-generated-submissions-litigant-costs-imposed-519310" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2025-02-israel-hcj", "incident_date": "2025-02-20", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "Supreme Court of Israel", "sector": "Legal", "country": "Israel", "doc_type": "Petition / written pleadings", "title": "HCJ petition (disputed divorce agreement)", "what_fabricated": "A pleading relied on 36 AI-generated purported judgments: 5 do not exist, 14 had no matching case, and 24 included unconnected quotes.", "headline_figure": "36 fake citations", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "The Supreme Court rejected the petition and ordered the lawyer to pay personal costs (~5,000 shekels).", "source_urls": [ "https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2025-06-25/israel-high-court-rejects-petition-prepared-using-ai-that-referenced-nonexistent-sources/", "https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-843442" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities", "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2025-05-maha-report", "incident_date": "2025-05-22", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "White House / US MAHA Commission", "sector": "Government / Public sector", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Federal commission report on children's health", "title": "The MAHA Report", "what_fabricated": "At least seven cited studies were non-existent, with dozens of further reference errors; many footnotes carried the 'oaicite' (ChatGPT) marker.", "headline_figure": "7 nonexistent studies", "consequence_type": "Corrected", "consequence_detail": "After reporting exposed the fabricated citations, a corrected version was quietly republished with the fake references replaced.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.notus.org/health-science/make-america-healthy-again-report-citation-errors", "https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/05/29/maha-rfk-jr-ai-garble/" ], "fab_types": [ "References & studies" ] }, { "id": "2025-10-enisa-threat-landscape", "incident_date": "2025-10", "date_precision": "month", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "ENISA (EU Agency for Cybersecurity)", "sector": "Government / Public sector", "country": "European Union", "doc_type": "Official cybersecurity threat-landscape report", "title": "ENISA Threat Landscape 2025", "what_fabricated": "AI-hallucinated source references across TWO ENISA threat reports, published October and November 2025, found by researchers at Westfälische Hochschule and reported via Der Spiegel; many dead source links. ⚠️ IN ONE OF THE TWO REPORTS — WHICH IS NOT IDENTIFIED IN THE PUBLIC REPORTING — 26 of 492 footnotes were incorrect. Which of the two carries that figure is NOT ESTABLISHED, so the count is not asserted of this document. ENISA said AI had been permitted only 'minor editorial revisions'.", "headline_figure": "AI-hallucinated sources across two ENISA threat reports", "consequence_type": "Corrected", "consequence_detail": "Researchers at Westfälische Hochschule flagged the bad references (reported via Der Spiegel). ENISA admitted 'human errors' and said AI had been permitted only 'minor editorial revisions'. A v1.2 file exists on ENISA's site, but no source establishes it was issued as an announced correction, and neither published version carries a change log or erratum.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.heise.de/en/news/EU-cyber-agency-secretly-uses-AI-for-reports-and-gets-caught-11136978.html", "https://cybernews.com/ai-news/enisa-cybersecurity-ai/" ], "fab_types": [ "References & studies" ] }, { "id": "2025-01-hancock-kohls-ellison", "incident_date": "2025-01-10", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "US District Court, District of Minnesota", "sector": "Academic / Research", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Court expert declaration", "title": "Expert declaration in Kohls v. Ellison", "what_fabricated": "Of 15 citations in a misinformation expert's declaration, at least two referenced academic articles that do not exist — admitted ChatGPT hallucinations.", "headline_figure": "2 of 15 citations fabricated", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "The court struck the declaration entirely, finding the fabricated citations 'shatter his credibility.'", "source_urls": [ "https://minnesotareformer.com/2025/01/14/judge-rebukes-stanford-misinformation-expert-for-using-chatgpt-to-draft-testimony/", "https://stanforddaily.com/2024/12/02/jeff-hancock-court-declaration/" ], "fab_types": [ "References & studies" ] }, { "id": "2025-11-daru-journal", "incident_date": "2025-11-13", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "DARU Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences (Springer Nature)", "sector": "Academic / Research", "country": "Iran", "doc_type": "Peer-reviewed journal article", "title": "Paper criticising post-publication peer review", "what_fabricated": "5 of 17 references do not exist and 3 more have wrong DOIs; one fabricated cite credited Retraction Watch's co-founder with a non-existent article.", "headline_figure": "5 of 17 references invented", "consequence_type": "Corrected", "consequence_detail": "Springer Nature attached an editor's note flagging the fabricated references and AI-generated-text characteristics.", "source_urls": [ "https://retractionwatch.com/2025/11/21/springer-nature-flags-paper-with-fabricated-reference-to-article-not-written-by-our-cofounder/" ], "fab_types": [ "References & studies" ] }, { "id": "2025-05-fake-summer-reading-list", "incident_date": "2025-05-15", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "Chicago Sun-Times & Philadelphia Inquirer", "sector": "Media", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Syndicated print feature supplement", "title": "'Heat Index' summer guide", "what_fabricated": "10 of 15 recommended books were entirely invented; other items quoted fake or misidentified experts.", "headline_figure": "10 of 15 books didn't exist", "consequence_type": "Withdrawn", "consequence_detail": "Both papers disavowed and removed the syndicated section and issued apologies; the freelancer admitted using AI without fact-checking.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2025/05/20/chicago-sun-times-philadelphia-inquirer-ai-books-summer-reading/", "https://www.npr.org/2025/05/20/nx-s1-5405022/fake-summer-reading-list-ai" ], "fab_types": [ "Sources & experts", "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2024-08-cody-enterprise", "incident_date": "2024-08", "date_precision": "month", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "Cody Enterprise (Wyoming)", "sector": "Media", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Local newspaper news articles", "title": "Cody Enterprise stories", "what_fabricated": "Seven stories contained AI-generated fabricated quotes from six people, including invented quotes attributed to Wyoming's governor.", "headline_figure": "7 stories, fake quotes", "consequence_type": "Corrected", "consequence_detail": "The paper ran corrections and reviewed the reporter's work; the reporter resigned after being confronted.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/reporter-artificial-intelligence-fake-quotes-stories-cody-enterprise-wyoming/", "https://www.powelltribune.com/stories/after-getting-caught-fabricating-quotes-cody-reporter-resigns,135514" ], "fab_types": [ "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2025-07-springer-ml-textbook", "incident_date": "2025-07-16", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "Springer Nature", "sector": "Academic / Research", "country": "United Kingdom", "doc_type": "Textbook", "title": "Mastering Machine Learning: From Basics to Advanced", "what_fabricated": "Publisher could not verify 25 of 46 references; of 18 checked, about two-thirds did not exist or had substantial errors.", "headline_figure": "25 of 46 references unverifiable", "consequence_type": "Withdrawn", "consequence_detail": "Springer Nature retracted the ~$169 textbook and removed it from catalogues.", "source_urls": [ "https://retractionwatch.com/2025/07/16/springer-nature-to-retract-machine-learning-book-following-retraction-watch-coverage/", "https://www.thebookseller.com/news/springer-nature-retracts-machine-learning-book-after-citations-reference-works-that-dont-exist" ], "fab_types": [ "References & studies" ] }, { "id": "2025-12-journal-academic-ethics", "incident_date": "2025-12-02", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "Journal of Academic Ethics (Springer Nature)", "sector": "Academic / Research", "country": "Ethiopia", "doc_type": "Peer-reviewed journal article", "title": "Whistleblowing experiences of individuals with disabilities in Ethiopian public educational institutions", "what_fabricated": "At least 19 of 29 references appear fabricated; 18 Google Scholar links return empty; author admitted ChatGPT-generated references.", "headline_figure": "19 of 29 references fabricated", "consequence_type": "Withdrawn", "consequence_detail": "Springer Nature confirmed it is investigating after the corresponding author admitted using ChatGPT.", "source_urls": [ "https://retractionwatch.com/2025/12/02/fake-references-chatgpt-journal-academic-ethics-springer-nature-whistleblowing/" ], "fab_types": [ "References & studies" ] }, { "id": "2026-01-intensive-care-medicine", "incident_date": "2025-11-29", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "Intensive Care Medicine (Springer)", "sector": "Academic / Research", "country": "Netherlands", "doc_type": "Letter to the editor", "title": "Artificial intelligence to enhance hemodynamic management in the ICU (Vlaar, Myatra & Jung), Intensive Care Medicine — retracted", "what_fabricated": "Among 15 references, a fabricated citation to the very journal the letter appeared in (a non-existent self-reference).", "headline_figure": "Fake reference to its own journal", "consequence_type": "Withdrawn", "consequence_detail": "Retracted by the Editor-in-Chief on 29 November 2025. The notice cites a peer review not carried out under the journal's policies and references that could not be verified; the authors stated the non-existent references came from using generative AI to build the reference list. All authors disagree with the retraction.", "source_urls": [ "https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00134-024-07752-6", "https://retractionwatch.com/2026/01/28/medical-journal-publishes-a-paper-on-ai-with-a-fake-reference-to-itself/" ], "fab_types": [ "References & studies" ] }, { "id": "2026-03-digestive-diseases", "incident_date": "2026-03-06", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "Digestive Diseases and Sciences (Springer Nature)", "sector": "Academic / Research", "country": "United Kingdom", "doc_type": "Peer-reviewed journal article", "title": "Article on mental-health integration after bowel diversion surgery", "what_fabricated": "12 of 14 references found not to exist; recent, easily-locatable citations could not be traced.", "headline_figure": "12 of 14 references do not exist", "consequence_type": "Withdrawn", "consequence_detail": "Flagged after a hospital librarian could not locate the references; publisher investigating.", "source_urls": [ "https://retractionwatch.com/2026/03/06/librarian-finds-preposterous-number-of-fake-references-in-paper-from-springer-nature-journal/" ], "fab_types": [ "References & studies" ] }, { "id": "2025-12-world-bank-nourishing", "incident_date": "2025-12-19", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "World Bank Group", "sector": "Government / Public sector", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Institutional research report", "title": "Nourishing Tomorrow: Addressing Obesity Through Food Systems in South Asia", "what_fabricated": "At least 14 in-text references appear non-existent, a pattern characteristic of LLM-generated citations.", "headline_figure": "At least 14 fake references", "consequence_type": "Withdrawn", "consequence_detail": "The March-2025 report was 'removed for review' from the World Bank's Open Knowledge Repository after inquiry.", "source_urls": [ "https://retractionwatch.com/2025/12/19/world-bank-report-removed-nonexistent-references/" ], "fab_types": [ "References & studies" ] }, { "id": "2024-03-kpmg-au-research-integrity", "incident_date": "2024-03-04", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "KPMG (Australian government report)", "sector": "Government / Public sector", "country": "Australia", "doc_type": "Commissioned government report", "title": "Report on research integrity for the Australian government", "what_fabricated": "A fabricated reference attributed to Retraction Watch's own founders for a paper they never wrote.", "headline_figure": "Invented a Retraction Watch reference", "consequence_type": "Corrected", "consequence_detail": "The made-up citation was flagged and corrected after Retraction Watch identified it as non-existent.", "source_urls": [ "https://retractionwatch.com/2024/03/04/kpmg-government-report-on-research-integrity-makes-up-reference-involving-retraction-watch-founders/" ], "fab_types": [ "References & studies" ] }, { "id": "2026-02-ars-technica", "incident_date": "2026-02-13", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "Ars Technica", "sector": "Media", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "News article", "title": "Report on an AI agent's 'smear campaign' against an engineer", "what_fabricated": "A direct quotation attributed to a real, named source he never said — an AI paraphrase used as a verbatim quote.", "headline_figure": "AI-faked quote; reporter out", "consequence_type": "Withdrawn", "consequence_detail": "Ars Technica retracted the article on 18 Feb 2026; the reporter left after an investigation.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.niemanlab.org/reading/ars-technica-fires-reporter-after-ai-controversy-involving-fabricated-quotes/", "https://www.techdirt.com/2026/02/18/ars-technica-retracts-story-featuring-fake-quotes-made-up-by-ai-about-a-different-ai-that-launched-a-weird-smear-campaign-against-an-engineer-who-rejected-its-code-seriously/" ], "fab_types": [ "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2025-08-wired-blanchard", "incident_date": "2025-08", "date_precision": "month", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "Wired (Condé Nast)", "sector": "Media", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Feature article", "title": "Feature on couples getting married in virtual worlds", "what_fabricated": "Quotes from sources who do not appear to exist (e.g. 'Jessica Hu, an ordained officiant in Chicago'), supplied by a fictitious freelancer whose copy appears AI-generated.", "headline_figure": "Phantom expert, no fact-check", "consequence_type": "Withdrawn", "consequence_detail": "Wired removed the article and replaced it with an editor's note conceding it skipped a proper fact-check.", "source_urls": [ "https://pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/digital-journalism/margaux-blanchard-wired-ai-editors-journalist/" ], "fab_types": [ "Sources & experts", "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2025-09-business-insider", "incident_date": "2025-09", "date_precision": "month", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "Business Insider", "sector": "Media", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "First-person essays", "title": "Dozens of personal essays under suspect bylines", "what_fabricated": "Essays whose named subjects, anecdotes and quoted details could not be verified — part of a fabricated-contributor network, with details contradicting between pieces.", "headline_figure": "About 40 essays pulled", "consequence_type": "Withdrawn", "consequence_detail": "Business Insider deleted at least 34 essays, reported as 40, after concluding the contents could not be stood up.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/09/06/fake-bylines-ai-business-insider/" ], "fab_types": [ "Sources & experts", "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2023-04-die-aktuelle-schumacher", "incident_date": "2023-04-22", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "Die Aktuelle (Funke Mediengruppe)", "sector": "Media", "country": "Germany", "doc_type": "Magazine cover story", "title": "'Michael Schumacher: the first interview'", "what_fabricated": "An entire 'interview' of fabricated, AI-generated quotes attributed to Michael Schumacher — he gave no such interview.", "headline_figure": "€200,000 fake interview", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "The editor was dismissed, the publisher apologised, and the family was awarded €200,000 in compensation.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.npr.org/2023/04/28/1172473999/michael-schumacher-ai-interview-german-magazine", "https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/36278209/editor-sacked-fake-michael-schumacher-article" ], "fab_types": [ "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2023-11-au-senate-consulting", "incident_date": "2023-11-06", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "Parliament of Australia — Senate consulting-services inquiry", "sector": "Government / Public sector", "country": "Australia", "doc_type": "Parliamentary inquiry submission", "title": "Academic submission to the Senate inquiry into consulting services", "what_fabricated": "Multiple fictitious case studies of Big Four wrongdoing generated by Google Bard (false NAB, Probuild, Patisserie Valerie, Westpac claims) — none occurred.", "headline_figure": "Bard-fabricated allegations vs the Big Four", "consequence_type": "Corrected", "consequence_detail": "The lead academic apologised to the committee and the firms; a corrected submission was issued.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.itnews.com.au/news/parliament-published-a-submission-containing-ai-drafted-inaccuracies-608348", "https://www.themandarin.com.au/234264-parliamentary-committee-says-verify-ai-generated-submissions/" ], "fab_types": [ "Claims & data" ] }, { "id": "2025-08-nl-education-accord", "incident_date": "2025-08-28", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "Government of Newfoundland & Labrador — Education Accord NL", "sector": "Government / Public sector", "country": "Canada", "doc_type": "Government education strategy report", "title": "Education Accord NL final report (10-year plan)", "what_fabricated": "At least 15 citations to non-existent journal articles, including a reference to a 2008 NFB film the NFB confirms does not exist (traced to a style guide's fictitious examples).", "headline_figure": "15+ fake sources in a 10-year plan", "consequence_type": "Corrected", "consequence_detail": "The province acknowledged AI-linked citation errors and committed to a corrected version.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/education-accord-nl-sources-dont-exist-1.7631364", "https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/davis-education-accord-citations-1.7632425" ], "fab_types": [ "References & studies" ] }, { "id": "2025-02-brazil-tjsc", "incident_date": "2025-02-18", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "Tribunal de Justiça de Santa Catarina (TJSC)", "sector": "Legal", "country": "Brazil", "doc_type": "Civil appeal", "title": "Appeal before the TJSC 6th Civil Chamber", "what_fabricated": "Cited case-law precedents and legal doctrine that were wrong or wholly fictitious; the lawyer admitted 'inadvertent' ChatGPT use.", "headline_figure": "Fabricated precedents; 10% bad-faith fine", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "The chamber imposed a 10% bad-faith-litigation fine and ordered referral to the Santa Catarina Bar (OAB/SC).", "source_urls": [ "https://www.tjsc.jus.br/web/imprensa/-/tjsc-multa-autor-de-recurso-por-jurisprudencia-falsa-gerada-por-ia", "https://www.migalhas.com.br/quentes/433822/leis-e-jurisprudencia-inventadas-advogado-e-multado-por-uso-de-ia" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2025-08-philippines-sandiganbayan", "incident_date": "2025-08-07", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "Sandiganbayan (Philippines anti-graft court)", "sector": "Legal", "country": "Philippines", "doc_type": "Motions", "title": "People v. Cunanan (counsel Atty. Iryl Boco)", "what_fabricated": "Three AI-assisted motions cited authorities that were non-existent or did not contain the quoted passages, with incorrect docket numbers and dates.", "headline_figure": "Non-existent authorities across 3 motions", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "The court issued a show-cause order and formally admonished counsel to fact-check AI-generated research.", "source_urls": [ "https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2095751/fwd-sandiganbayan-reminds-fact-check-pleadings-crafted-with-the-help-ai", "https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2025/08/14/2465312/sandigan-calls-out-lawyer-who-used-ai-pleadings" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities", "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2026-03-brazil-tst", "incident_date": "2026-03-10", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "Tribunal Superior do Trabalho (TST — Brazil)", "sector": "Legal", "country": "Brazil", "doc_type": "Counter-arguments in a labour appeal", "title": "Labour appeal before the TST 6th Panel", "what_fabricated": "Cited non-existent precedents, including ones falsely attributed to a sitting and a retired Minister (one dated after his retirement); none existed in the TST system.", "headline_figure": "Fake precedents attributed to real ministers", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "The panel fined the company and lawyer 1% of case value and referred them to the Bar (OAB) and Federal Prosecutor (MPF).", "source_urls": [ "https://www.tst.jus.br/en/-/empresa-e-advogado-sao-condenados-por-possivel-uso-de-ia-com-citacoes-falsas-de-jurisprudencia", "https://www.migalhas.com.br/quentes/451473/tst-multa-empresa-e-advogado-por-citar-precedente-falso-gerado-por-ia" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities", "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2024-11-nz-wikeley-kea", "incident_date": "2024-11-21", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-28", "org": "Court of Appeal of New Zealand", "sector": "Legal", "country": "New Zealand", "doc_type": "Appellate submissions", "title": "Wikeley v Kea Investments Ltd [2024] NZCA 609", "what_fabricated": "A self-represented litigant's submissions relied on non-existent case authorities; the court noted the material appeared AI-drafted.", "headline_figure": "AI-cited non-existent authorities", "consequence_type": "Withdrawn", "consequence_detail": "After respondent counsel flagged the apparent AI drafting, the offending submissions were withdrawn.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.lawsociety.org.nz/assets/Professional-practice-docs/Case-notes/November-2024/Wikeley-v-Kea-Investments-Ltd-2024-NZCA-609.pdf?vid=4" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2026-05-rosenbaum-future-of-truth", "incident_date": "2026-05-19", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-29", "org": "Steven Rosenbaum (author)", "sector": "Media", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Non-fiction book", "title": "The Future of Truth: How AI Reshapes Reality", "what_fabricated": "A New York Times review found more than half a dozen misattributed or fabricated quotes. One attributed to tech journalist Kara Swisher (\"the most sophisticated AI language model is like a mirror...\") was disowned by her, who said she \"never said that\"; further misattributed quotes involved other named figures. The author disclosed using ChatGPT and Claude during research, writing and editing.", "headline_figure": "Half-a-dozen-plus fabricated quotes in a book about AI and truth", "consequence_type": "Corrected", "consequence_detail": "Rosenbaum acknowledged a \"handful of improperly attributed or synthetic quotes\" and said he was working with editors to review and correct affected passages; future editions to be corrected.", "source_urls": [ "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/book-ai-truth-ai-hallucinated-quotes", "https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/business/media/future-of-truth-ai-quotes.html" ], "fab_types": [ "Quotes", "Sources & experts" ] }, { "id": "2026-04-nyt-poilievre-quote", "incident_date": "2026-04-14", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-29", "org": "The New York Times", "sector": "Media", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "News article", "title": "NYT report on Canada's election (Carney / Liberal Party)", "what_fabricated": "A direct quotation attributed to Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre was, per the Times' own editor's note, an AI-generated summary of his views that the AI tool rendered as a verbatim quotation. Poilievre never said the quoted words; the note stated the reporter \"should have checked the accuracy of what the A.I. tool returned.\"", "headline_figure": "An AI summary published as a direct quote", "consequence_type": "Corrected", "consequence_detail": "An editor's note was appended and the fabricated quote replaced with an accurate quotation from an April speech; the NYT subsequently issued AI-use guidance to freelancers.", "source_urls": [ "https://simonwillison.net/2026/May/10/new-york-times-editors-note/", "https://pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/digital-journalism/ai-journalism-mistakes/" ], "fab_types": [ "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2025-10-lawscot-vanishing-firms", "incident_date": "2025-10-31", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-29", "org": "Journal of the Law Society of Scotland", "sector": "Media", "country": "United Kingdom", "doc_type": "Professional magazine feature", "title": "\"Vanishing law firms in the Highlands\" feature", "what_fabricated": "Quotes falsely attributed to interviewees the reporter could not produce. On the balance of the evidence the editor concluded the quotations were \"disputed and otherwise problematic,\" falsely attributed, and likely fabricated, in breach of the Journal's editorial guidelines and the author's contractual obligations.", "headline_figure": "Feature pulled over phantom sources and fabricated quotes", "consequence_type": "Withdrawn", "consequence_detail": "Removed 31 Oct 2025; editor Joshua King published a correction and apology and contacted those to whom quotes were falsely attributed.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.lawscot.org.uk/members/journal-hub/articles/an-important-correction-and-apology-to-journal-readers-about-vanishing-law-firms-feature/", "https://pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/digital-journalism/ai-journalism-mistakes/" ], "fab_types": [ "Sources & experts", "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2026-02-colombia-supreme-court", "incident_date": "2026-02-16", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-06-29", "org": "Corte Suprema de Justicia de Colombia", "sector": "Legal", "country": "Colombia", "doc_type": "Legal appeal", "title": "Appeal with AI-fabricated authorities (counsel Jorge Hernán Zapata Vargas)", "what_fabricated": "A legal appeal contained non-existent legal provisions and precedents generated by an AI tool.", "headline_figure": "~US$6,000 fine for fabricated authorities", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "The court fined the lawyer roughly US$6,000 (about 26 million pesos) for procedural recklessness (temeridad procesal) over AI-generated false citations, finding the conduct undermined judicial integrity, and referred him for disciplinary investigation.", "source_urls": [ "https://oecd.ai/en/incidents/2026-02-16-d0ba", "https://www.vanguardia.com/colombia/2026/02/16/millonaria-multa-abogado-uso-inteligencia-artificial-en-un-recurso-con-normas-y-sentencias-inexistentes/" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2026-07-india-sc-nclt-essel", "incident_date": "2026-07-02", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-07-06", "org": "Supreme Court of India", "sector": "Legal", "country": "India", "doc_type": "Tribunal judgments (NCLT / NCLAT)", "title": "Pooja Ramesh Singh v J&K Bank (Essel Infraprojects insolvency)", "what_fabricated": "Of six authorities the tribunal relied on, three citations did not exist, one was a wrong citation carrying an invented paragraph, and two were real citations carrying invented paragraphs. The bank's affidavit said its counsel never cited them and that the tribunal found them through its own research.", "headline_figure": "3 of 6 cited precedents did not exist", "consequence_type": "Withdrawn", "consequence_detail": "The Supreme Court set aside the NCLT and NCLAT orders and sent the application back for fresh decision, and directed the Bar Council of India to constitute a committee on advocates submitting fake or hallucinated material as precedents, including disciplinary action. It likened such material to \"the release of methyl isocyanate in the province of law and justice\".", "source_urls": [ "https://indiankanoon.org/doc/113338666/", "https://www.barandbench.com/news/litigation/supreme-court-sets-aside-nclt-judgment-for-relying-on-hallucinated-ai-generated-citations", "https://www.livelaw.in/supreme-court/supreme-court-sets-aside-nclt-judgment-for-using-ai-hallucinated-citations-asks-bci-to-examine-issue-539616" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities", "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2026-06-ny-second-dept-sanders", "incident_date": "2026-06", "date_precision": "month", "date_logged": "2026-07-06", "org": "New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Appellate brief", "title": "Sanders / Law Offices of Michael S. Lamonsoff PLLC", "what_fabricated": "The brief cited several non-existent cases, included fictitious purported Court of Appeals quotations “wholly contrary to actual law,” and misrepresented the holdings of real cases.", "headline_figure": "$10,500 sanction", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Attorney Michael Sanders ordered to pay $8,000 and his firm $2,500 to the Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection; the court noted possible referral to the Attorney Grievance Committee.", "source_urls": [ "https://nydailyrecord.com/2026/06/26/new-york-attorney-law-firm-sanctioned-ai-fake-citations/" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities", "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2026-03-kenya-milimani-savla", "incident_date": "2026-03-06", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-07-06", "org": "High Court of Kenya, Milimani Law Courts (Justice Bahati Mwamuye)", "sector": "Legal", "country": "Kenya", "doc_type": "Notice of Motion + supporting affidavit", "title": "Savla v Commission on Administrative Justice & Kenya Psychiatric Association", "what_fabricated": "The Notice of Motion and supporting affidavit were entirely machine/AI-generated and contained citations to non-existent cases.", "headline_figure": "AI-drafted court filing struck out", "consequence_type": "Withdrawn", "consequence_detail": "Justice Bahati Mwamuye struck out the application and affidavit as machine-generated and non-compliant, holding that AI output “cannot be a proper substitute for human-drawn documents”; the petitioner was permitted to file a fresh, compliant application.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2026/03/milimani-high-court-ai-generated-documents-struck-out/" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2026-03-mediahuis-vandermeersch", "incident_date": "2026-03-19", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-07-06", "org": "Mediahuis (journalist Peter Vandermeersch)", "sector": "Media", "country": "Netherlands", "doc_type": "Journalism blog posts", "title": "Peter Vandermeersch “Press and Democracy” posts (Mediahuis)", "what_fabricated": "In 15 of 53 blog posts, quotes were attributed to named individuals and to publications where they could not be found; seven named individuals confirmed they never made the statements — dozens of fabricated quotes in total.", "headline_figure": "Fabricated quotes in 15 of 53 posts", "consequence_type": "Withdrawn", "consequence_detail": "Mediahuis removed eight articles from independent.ie and suspended Vandermeersch from his fellow role; he admitted relying on ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google Notebook and “put words in people's mouths.”", "source_urls": [ "https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026/03/19/mediahuis-suspends-top-journalist-after-admission-of-using-false-ai-material/", "https://www.euronews.com/next/2026/03/23/senior-european-journalist-suspended-for-publishing-ai-generated-quotes" ], "fab_types": [ "Quotes", "Sources & experts" ] }, { "id": "2026-07-galicia-tsxg-suplicacion", "incident_date": "2026-07-07", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-07-20", "org": "Tribunal Superior de Xustiza de Galicia (Sala do Social, A Coruña)", "sector": "Legal", "country": "Spain", "doc_type": "Written appeal (recurso de suplicación)", "title": "Auto 61/2026 — Recurso de Suplicación 5472/2025", "what_fabricated": "Of 32 case citations in the appeal, 24 (75%) were fabricated or wrong — non-existent Supreme Court, Constitutional Court and Court of Justice of the EU rulings, several with invented verbatim quotations, all verified false against the CENDOJ case database. The lawyer used a free generative-AI tool without verification and admitted responsibility. Independently corroborated 5 Aug 2026 by four Spanish outlets, all reporting 24 fabricated references and the EUR1,800 fine; Iberley additionally confirms the auto reference (Auto n. 00061/2026, A Coruna, 7 July 2026, recurso de suplicacion 5472/2025) and the 75% proportion. The raw total of 32 is stated in the auto and follows arithmetically from the two corroborated figures.", "headline_figure": "24 of 32 citations (75%) fabricated", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "€1,800 fine for breach of procedural good faith (art. 75.4 LJS); referred to the A Coruña Bar (ICACOR) for disciplinary action. The court set the fine by reference to the annual cost of a verified legal-AI research subscription (naming tools such as Sof-IA/Tirant, GenIA-L/Lefebvre, K+/Aranzadi and Harvey AI — €1,500–3,000/yr), reasoning that such a paid tool, or a free CENDOJ check, would have prevented the hallucinations. Follows the TSJ Canarias precedent of 10 Feb 2026.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.damiencharlotin.com/documents/2614/Galicia_7_July_2026.pdf", "https://www.damiencharlotin.com/hallucinations/", "https://www.iberley.es/noticias/el-tsxg-multa-1-800-euros-uso-negligente-ia-36755", "https://www.economistjurist.es/actualidad-juridica/jurisprudencia/el-tsxg-fija-un-antes-y-un-despues-en-el-uso-de-la-ia-por-los-abogados-multa-de-1-800-euros-por-presentar-un-recurso-con-jurisprudencia-inventada/", "https://www.moncloa.com/2026/07/15/tsxg-multa-abogado-citas-falsas-ia-3400206/", "https://www.elcorreogallego.es/galicia/2026/07/15/tsxg-multa-1800-euros-abogado-usar-ia-recurso-132470595.html" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities", "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2026-07-rosslyn2016-sdtex-bankr", "incident_date": "2026-07-14", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-07-20", "org": "US Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Texas", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Bankruptcy motions (motions to quash)", "title": "In re Rosslyn2016, LLC, et al.", "what_fabricated": "PER THE COURT'S ORDER AS PUBLISHED BY THE AI HALLUCINATION CASES DATABASE, AND NOT CORROBORATED BY ANY INDEPENDENT REPORT AS AT 5 AUGUST 2026: motions to quash filed by counsel for the petitioning creditors contained multiple fabricated quotations, citations to non-existent authority, and misleading descriptions of real authority. Counsel — a sole practitioner — said he had not used ChatGPT but had used the generative-AI feature in Westlaw's 'Precision' product; the court rejected his argument that a legal AI tool should be treated more leniently than a consumer one.", "headline_figure": "Sanctioned over fabrications produced with a paid legal-research AI", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "PER THE COURT'S ORDER AS PUBLISHED BY THE AI HALLUCINATION CASES DATABASE, AND NOT CORROBORATED BY ANY INDEPENDENT REPORT AS AT 5 AUGUST 2026: civil contempt of the court's 30 April 2026 turnover order plus a Rule 11(b) violation for submitting fabricated authority. Counsel and the petitioning creditors ordered to pay the Chapter 7 trustee $29,877 (trustee's counsel's fees) by 31 August 2026, under the court's inherent power and Bankruptcy Code §105. The debtor and the forum are independently verifiable on the S.D. Tex. bankruptcy docket as ROSSLYN2016 LLC, case 4:25-bk-31817 (jointly with Texas Esencia 2019 LLC, 4:25-bk-31816). That corroborates the case and the court; it does NOT corroborate the sanction, the amount, or the identification of the AI tool, each of which rests solely on the order as published by that database. A search on 5 August 2026 returned no independent reporting of this order.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.damiencharlotin.com/documents/2628/In_re_Rosslyn_USA_14_Jly_2026.pdf", "https://www.damiencharlotin.com/hallucinations/", "https://www.inforuptcy.com/browse-filings/texas-southern-bankruptcy-court/4:25-bk-31817/bankruptcy-case-rosslyn2016-llc" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities", "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2026-05-berlingske-drinking-water", "incident_date": "2026-05-27", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-07-20", "org": "Berlingske", "sector": "Media", "country": "Denmark", "doc_type": "News article", "title": "Article on securing clean drinking water", "what_fabricated": "An internal AI tool used to summarise expert quotes was run without the source material and invented both quotations and people — including a non-existent DTU technology professor, 'Anne Kjær Nielsen.' Fabricated quotes were attributed to sources who do not exist. Flagged by a reporter at Dagbladet Information.", "headline_figure": "Invented professor and fabricated quotes in a national daily", "consequence_type": "Corrected", "consequence_detail": "A roughly seven-paragraph section was removed and two quotes corrected; Berlingske (Denmark's oldest newspaper, founded 1749) called the incident 'deeply regrettable,' opened an external review, and suspended the responsible journalist pending its outcome. The AI use breached the paper's own policy barring AI for direct article production.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.dailynorthern.com/20851/danish-newspaper-admits-ai-generated-errors-but-will-continue-using-technology/", "https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/berlingske-kalder-fejl-meget-beklagelig-og-ulykkelig-alligevel-vil-de-fortsaette-med-bruge-ai" ], "fab_types": [ "Quotes", "Sources & experts" ] }, { "id": "2026-04-doj-renfer-ednc", "incident_date": "2026-04-28", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-07-20", "org": "US District Court, Eastern District of North Carolina (Magistrate Judge Robert T. Numbers II) / US Department of Justice", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Government opposition brief", "title": "Fivehouse v. U.S. Department of Defense (AUSA Rudy Renfer)", "what_fabricated": "A brief the federal prosecutor drafted with a generative-AI tool and filed without verifying contained fabricated quotations, misstatements of case holdings, and fabricated regulatory language. The pro se plaintiff — a retired military lawyer — noticed the brief did not read like the sources it cited.", "headline_figure": "US federal prosecutor fired over an AI-fabricated filing", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "The Department of Justice terminated Renfer (the day after he offered to resign). The court found he 'knowingly submitted a brief containing fabricated quotations and misstatements of case holdings' and issued a public reprimand on 28 April 2026, limiting further sanction in light of the professional consequences already suffered.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/federal-judge-limits-sanction-for-doj-attorney-fired-over-ai-errors", "https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/fivehouse-department-of-defense-renfer-reprimand.pdf" ], "fab_types": [ "Quotes", "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2026-07-ledoux-wdwash-stewart", "incident_date": "2026-07-24", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-07-27", "org": "US District Court, Western District of Washington (Judge Tiffany M. Cartwright)", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Amended complaint, Daubert motion, motion to strike affirmative defences, and summary-judgment briefing — COUNSEL'S FILINGS ONLY", "title": "LeDoux v. Outliers, Inc. (d/b/a Thesis), No. 3:24-cv-05808-TMC", "what_fabricated": "Dozens of inaccurate factual and legal citations across at least four filings by counsel, including citations to nonexistent sources and fictitious quotations attributed to real, existing sources. Counsel generated a formatted citation table using Claude and ChatGPT. ⚠️ THE SAME AI-GENERATED TABLE WAS SUPPLIED TO TWO TESTIFYING EXPERTS AS AN APPENDIX and is the origin of the fabrications in their reports; neither expert caught the errors before signing. Those reports are recorded separately — see `2026-08-ledoux-kababick-expert-wdwash` — but the fabrication in all of them is counsel's. Split from a single bundled row on 7 Sep 2026 under the matter-vs-document ruling.", "headline_figure": "Dozens of false citations across 4 briefs; attorney sanctioned $3,000", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Attorney Jocelyn Stewart personally sanctioned $3,000 under Rule 11, payable to the Clerk within 21 days; required to certify verification of every citation in all subsequent briefing in the case; ordered to serve the sanctions order on her client. The court found her conduct “tantamount to bad faith” and “akin to contempt”, permitting sanction on the court's own motion.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.courthousenews.com/attorney-sanctioned-over-ai-filings/", "https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/attorney-sanctioned-for-ai-briefings.pdf" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities", "Quotes", "References & studies" ] }, { "id": "2026-02-west-midlands-police-maccabi", "incident_date": "2026-02-22", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-07-27", "org": "West Midlands Police", "sector": "Government / Public sector", "country": "United Kingdom", "doc_type": "Police intelligence report and written evidence to a parliamentary select committee", "title": "Maccabi Tel Aviv away-fan ban intelligence report", "what_fabricated": "Microsoft Copilot generated a fixture between Maccabi Tel Aviv and West Ham that never took place; the non-existent match was used in the force's intelligence report as evidence that Maccabi fans posed an unusual risk. A 10 October 2025 reply from the operation's Gold Commander carried further AI-sourced claims about the Amsterdam disorder — that 2,000 Dutch police had been deployed, that “people were thrown into the river”, and that the disorder was “well organised and targeted towards Muslim communities”.", "headline_figure": "One fictitious fixture, used to classify away fans as high-risk", "consequence_type": "Corrected", "consequence_detail": "The force gave incorrect evidence to the Home Affairs Committee on two separate appearances before submitting a written correction. Chief Constable Craig Guildford apologised and retired, an outcome the Committee explicitly endorsed; Microsoft Copilot was suspended force-wide and the matter declared a critical incident; the Independent Office for Police Conduct is investigating one senior officer and one staff member over the force's AI use. The Committee's report of 22 February 2026 found the force “failed to do even basic due diligence on the information they received. This included false information that was generated by AI.”", "source_urls": [ "https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/83/home-affairs-committee/news/212026/ai-used-to-reinforce-false-narratives-in-maccabi-fan-ban-report-finds/", "https://www.thejc.com/news/politics/west-midlands-police-used-false-information-created-by-ai-to-justify-ban-on-israeli-fans-mps-find-vx0tcn1x" ], "fab_types": [ "Claims & data", "Sources & experts" ] }, { "id": "2026-06-withers-aberdeen-ndmiss", "incident_date": "2026-06-08", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-07-27", "org": "US District Court, Northern District of Mississippi (Judge Sharion Aycock)", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Court briefs — three filings, two by the City and one by the plaintiff", "title": "Withers v. City of Aberdeen", "what_fabricated": "Hallucinated case citations across three briefs filed by both opposing sides in the same matter; the court, not opposing counsel, discovered them. One out-of-state attorney admitted she had filed further pleadings before the same court containing undiscovered fictitious citations, and had continued citing hallucinated cases in other jurisdictions after the problem surfaced. The order does not state a total citation count.", "headline_figure": "Both sides hallucinated — all 4 attorneys removed", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Pro hac vice admissions revoked for both out-of-state counsel and both barred from appearing before the Northern District of Mississippi for two years, fined $3,500 and $2,500 respectively; both local counsel disqualified from the case and fined $1,000 each for signing and filing without verifying; one attorney ordered to complete AI legal education; all four referred to the Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas bar disciplinary authorities.", "source_urls": [ "https://mississippitoday.org/2026/06/11/mississippi-judge-ousts-lawyers-ai/", "https://abovethelaw.com/2026/06/a-pox-on-everyones-house-mississippi-court-disqualifies-all-4-attorneys-in-major-hallucination-scandal/" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2026-07-uk-home-office-cpin-morocco", "incident_date": "2026-07-14", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-08-03", "org": "UK Home Office", "sector": "Government / Public sector", "country": "United Kingdom", "doc_type": "Asylum refusal letter (government decision letter)", "title": "Asylum refusal citing a Morocco country policy and information note (CPIN)", "what_fabricated": "The Home Office refused a Moroccan woman's asylum claim citing a country policy and information note (CPIN) on Morocco dated July 2021 as authority that Morocco would be safe for her return. The Upper Tribunal could not locate the document and the Home Office's own country policy and information team was unable to confirm it existed; the judge held \"it appears that no such CPIN has ever existed.\" No CPIN on Morocco has been published since 2017. The First-tier Tribunal had already dismissed her appeal relying on the same non-existent document. Asked to produce it, the Home Office first sent a link to an archive where it could not be found, then produced a different, unpublished internal guidance document (a country information note, or CIN) that had never been disclosed to the court — and which does not conclude Morocco is safe for the forcible return of women in her position, recording instead that 40,000 child marriages were granted by exemption in 2018 (one-fifth of all marriages that year) and that Moroccan law does not explicitly criminalise marital rape.", "headline_figure": "An asylum refusal built on a policy document that does not exist", "consequence_type": "Withdrawn", "consequence_detail": "Upper Tribunal decision of 14 July 2026; reported 28 July 2026. The judge found relying on a document that did not exist was \"analogous to relying on bogus evidence\" and determined the issue to be a procedural irregularity, so the refusal and the First-tier decision upholding it do not stand. He said the refusal letter \"bears hallmarks consistent with the use of artificial intelligence\" and that if the CPIN references were an AI hallucination \"that would represent an extremely serious failing on the part of the respondent.\" The AI attribution is the judge's suggestion and is not a finding; the non-existence of the document is established. The woman's case continues.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jul/28/home-office-used-ai-hallucinated-information-to-refuse-asylum-claim-judge-suggests", "https://www.computing.co.uk/news/2026/ai/home-office-accused-of-using-hallucinated-evidence" ], "fab_types": [ "Sources & experts", "References & studies" ] }, { "id": "2026-07-khaba-gauteng-hc-lpc", "incident_date": "2026-07-31", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-08-05", "org": "High Court of South Africa, Gauteng Division, Johannesburg (Acting Judge Themba Khaba)", "sector": "Legal", "country": "South Africa", "doc_type": "High Court judgment", "title": "FJL v TGO, Case No 2025/220239 — judgment on leave to appeal and s18(3)", "what_fabricated": "On appeal, the full bench tabulated 12 numbered citation discrepancies in the Acting Judge's judgment (the judgment text and the reporting both refer to \"11 discrepancies\"). The standout is \"Lubbe v Volkswagon SA [2023] 4 All SA 289 (C)\" — \"This case does not exist\" — relied on in five paragraphs: [75], [92], [93], [108] and [112]. Others include a citation belonging to an unrelated case (Myeni given SA Express Ltd v Bagport's citation; MEC for Health Eastern Cape v Mkhintha given Notshokovu v S's), quotes attributed to a correctly named case that in fact come from a different, uncited judgment, and a citation that does not exist at all (Premier for the Province of Gauteng [2020] 4 All SA 559 (SCA)). The discrepancies were identified by the appellant's legal team, agreed by the respondent's, independently confirmed by the senior librarian of the Johannesburg Society of Advocates, and separately verified by a court researcher before the hearing. Critically, the judgment recorded in some instances that junior counsel Ms K Mitchell had supplied references she had never provided: \"The errors can therefore not be attributed to counsel.\"", "headline_figure": "12 tabulated citation discrepancies in a High Court judgment, including a case that does not exist", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Appeal judgment delivered 31 July 2026 (Wright, Opperman and Mahosi JJ; reportable). The appeal was dismissed with costs — Khaba's outcome was upheld — but Opperman J issued a separate ruling referring the Acting Judge to the Legal Practice Council for investigation into possible professional misconduct. She held that \"the most plausible explanation, certainly for the fictitious Lubbe reference, is that it is the product of the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and what has been dubbed 'hallucinations'\", while stating expressly: \"I make no finding on whether AI was used.\" The AI attribution is the judge's assessment, not a finding; the non-existence of the cited authority is established. The ruling also records an accountability gap — the Judicial Service Commission has no authority over acting judges because it does not appoint them, so the LPC, with which an acting judge remains an enrolled practitioner, is \"the most effective available forum\".", "source_urls": [ "https://groundup.org.za/media/uploads/documents/fjl_v_tgo_2026_25-220239_gj.pdf", "https://groundup.org.za/article/acting-judge-referred-to-legal-practice-council-over-possible-ai-hallucinations-in-judgment/" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities", "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2026-07-molawa-matjhabeng-labour-court", "incident_date": "2026-07", "date_precision": "month", "date_logged": "2026-08-05", "org": "Labour Court of South Africa, Durban; fabrications originated with the chairperson of a Matjhabeng Local Municipality internal disciplinary hearing", "sector": "Legal", "country": "South Africa", "doc_type": "Written ruling by the chairperson of an internal disciplinary hearing", "title": "Molawa and Others v Matjhabeng Local Municipality and Another (2026/157576) [2026] ZALCD 30", "what_fabricated": "The chairperson of an internal disciplinary hearing issued a ruling citing case authorities that do not exist. This is established from the primary record: the Gauteng High Court, in FJL v TGO (2025/220239, 31 July 2026, reportable), cites the case at footnote 9 as (2026/157576) [2026] ZALCD 30 and records at paragraph [40] that a stay was granted where \"rulings made by a disciplinary chairperson (not a Judge or Acting Judge) citing case authorities which did not exist\" were under challenge. PER CLIFFE DEKKER HOFMEYR'S EMPLOYMENT LAW ALERT OF 27 JULY 2026, AND NOT YET CHECKED AGAINST THE JUDGMENT ITSELF: the ruling relied on four authorities, of which only one existed and supported the proposition cited, two did not exist at all, and a fourth was a real decision that did not address the interpretation of collective agreements as claimed. Those figures are single-sourced to that alert and are attributed rather than asserted.", "headline_figure": "An adjudicator's own ruling cited authorities that do not exist", "consequence_type": "Withdrawn", "consequence_detail": "The Labour Court stayed the pending disciplinary hearing pending review of the chairperson's rulings — confirmed from the primary record via the High Court's citation of the case in FJL v TGO at paragraph [40]. Per the Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr alert, the court held the source of the citations was immaterial: whether an AI assistant or the chairperson's own error, the result was prima facie evidence of a failure to apply his mind, and the employees could not be required to continue before him. DATE: logged at month precision. The judgment has not been obtained; SAFLII and LawLibrary did not carry it as at 5 August 2026. A specific date of 13 July 2026 appears in Damien Charlotin's AI Hallucination Cases Database but is not corroborated by a primary source, and that database mis-attributed the tribunal on another incident in this register, so it is not relied on here.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.cliffedekkerhofmeyr.com/en/news/publications/2026/South-Africa/Employment-Law/Employment-law-alert-27-july-Phantom-authorities-Artificial-intelligence-fictitious-citations-and-the-integrity-of-legal-proceedings", "https://groundup.org.za/media/uploads/documents/fjl_v_tgo_2026_25-220239_gj.pdf" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2026-08-bfi-waste-mdtenn-ringger", "incident_date": "2026-08-06", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-08-10", "org": "US District Court, Middle District of Tennessee, Nashville Division (Magistrate Judge Luke A. Evans)", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Response brief filed by plaintiff's counsel (Doc. No. 293)", "title": "In re BFI Waste Systems of Tennessee, No. 3:22-cv-00605", "what_fabricated": "PER THE COURT'S MEMORANDUM ORDER AS PUBLISHED VIA THE AI HALLUCINATION CASES DATABASE, AND NOT CORROBORATED BY ANY INDEPENDENT REPORT AS AT 10 AUGUST 2026: a response brief filed by plaintiff's counsel contained hallucinated quotations and misleading citations. The court found \"quotations that did not exist\" and \"legal citations that gave the impression that an argument in his favor had support when it did not\". Attorney Louis W. Ringger III, the sole drafter, confirmed the court's suspicion that a major factor was the failure to check content generated through AI tools, and identified further deficiencies beyond those the court had found. THE ORDER STATES NO COUNT: it describes the category of defect without enumerating it. A count could only be derived from Doc. No. 293 and the redline at Doc. No. 328-3 on the M.D. Tenn. docket, neither of which has been read. No figure is asserted here, by decision rather than oversight.", "headline_figure": "Publicly reprimanded over quotations that do not exist — the order states no count", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "PER THE COURT'S MEMORANDUM ORDER AS PUBLISHED VIA THE AI HALLUCINATION CASES DATABASE, AND NOT CORROBORATED BY ANY INDEPENDENT REPORT AS AT 10 AUGUST 2026: Memorandum Order of 6 August 2026, following a show-cause order of 30 July 2026. Ringger was found to have violated Rule 11, was publicly reprimanded through the order itself, and was assessed a $1,500 monetary sanction payable to the Clerk of the Court within 30 days. Doc. No. 293 remains on the docket as filed, with leave granted to file a corrected supplemental response. Sanctions under the court's inherent authority were expressly declined. The court set the sanction \"at the low end\" given no prior history, an apology, and voluntary remedial measures already taken; Ringger had requested no sanction at all. The case, court and docket number are independently checkable on the M.D. Tenn. docket for 3:22-cv-00605; the sanction and the reprimand rest solely on the order as published by that database. A search on 10 August 2026 returned no independent reporting of this order.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.damiencharlotin.com/documents/2765/In_re_BFI_Waste_Sys._of_Tenn._2026_U.S._Dist._LEXIS_175482.Pdf", "https://www.damiencharlotin.com/hallucinations/" ], "fab_types": [ "Quotes", "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2026-08-arbuckle-tanner-nsca", "incident_date": "2026-08-12", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-08-17", "org": "Nova Scotia Court of Appeal (Gogan, J.A.)", "sector": "Legal", "country": "Canada", "doc_type": "Appeal book (court transcripts) and factum in a family-law appeal", "title": "Arbuckle v. Tanner, 2026 NSCA 62", "what_fabricated": "The self-represented appellant used AI tools to transcribe the audio of two hearings and to assemble his appeal book, instead of the certified court reporter required by Rule 90.29(5). Opposing counsel obtained an independent transcript and identified 39 discrepancies against the appellant's version — testimony inaccurately transcribed, testimony not stated by the witness at all, and entire exchanges between counsel and the trial judge missing altogether. The filed transcripts also carried a “certificate of court transcriber” page bearing the name, Nova Scotia registration number and signature of Sue Loney, a real certified transcriber, who confirmed by affidavit that she had transcribed and certified neither document. The appellant blamed the AI, saying it had pulled Ms Loney's certificate from an unrelated genuine transcript in his files; the Court rejected the AI excuse, finding he had filed a certificate of readiness he knew to be inaccurate and had filed uncertified transcripts twice. His factum cited the impugned transcript 24 times.", "headline_figure": "39 transcript discrepancies plus a forged certification page", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Decision written 12 August 2026 (motion heard 6 August). Motion to dismiss granted; the appeal was dismissed outright for failure to perfect. Costs ordered on an indemnification basis under Rule 90.40(4) in the amount of $20,000. The Court held the non-compliance “was not a missed step or an insufficiency. It was non-compliance well disguised as compliance,” and noted that but for diligent opposing counsel the appeal could have proceeded on an inaccurate record.", "source_urls": [ "https://decisia.lexum.com/nsc/nsca/en/item/523867/index.do", "https://www.canadianlawyermag.com/practice-areas/family/nova-scotia-court-tosses-out-self-represented-litigants-appeal-after-he-blames-ai-for-fake-filings/394502", "https://www.damiencharlotin.com/documents/2828/Arbuckle-v.-Tanner-2026-NSCA-62.pdf" ], "fab_types": [ "Sources & experts", "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2026-08-tjsp-auto-green-guarulhos", "incident_date": "2026-08-13", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-08-17", "org": "Tribunal de Justiça de São Paulo (36ª Câmara de Direito Privado)", "sector": "Legal", "country": "Brazil", "doc_type": "Initial petition (petição inicial) in a consumer contract-rescission action", "title": "Apelação Cível nº 1032884-04.2025.8.26.0224 (Auto Green Veículos Ltda v. Rafael Cuba de Morais Calado), Comarca de Guarulhos", "what_fabricated": "The plaintiff's lawyer used a generative AI tool, without any critical review or checking, to create non-existent jurisprudential precedents in the initial petition, in order to bolster her arguments. The court recorded the fabrication as an uncontested fact (“fato incontroverso”) because it was never specifically challenged in the reply or in the responses to the appeal, and had already been recognised at first instance. The plaintiff's answer on appeal was that “the appeal debate should stick to the facts and the substantive law, not the technological instruments used in drafting the pleadings” — an argument the panel rejected. The judgment states no count of fabricated precedents; no figure is asserted here, by decision rather than oversight.", "headline_figure": "Non-existent precedents created by AI; bad-faith litigation found", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Judgment of 13 August 2026, Rel. Des. Lidia Conceição, unanimous. Litigância de má-fé found under arts. 80, V and 81, §2 of the CPC; fine set at 2% of the updated value of the cause. On final judgment the court ordered copies of the decision sent to the Conselho Federal da OAB and to OAB/SP. The panel held the conduct “compromises the integrity of the judicial debate” and violates the duties of loyalty, probity and good faith, the Advocacy Statute (Law 8.906/1994) and OAB Federal Council Recommendation No. 1/2024, which requires human supervision of generative tools. The court cited STF (Rcl 78890 AgR) and STJ (HC 1.023.732/BA) precedent on the same point. The sanction is a percentage; the judgment does not state the resulting cash amount, and the R$180,590 appearing in the decision is the restitution of the vehicle price, a different figure.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.damiencharlotin.com/documents/2848/20260000779792.pdf", "https://www.damiencharlotin.com/hallucinations/" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2026-08-chapman-priceville-ndala", "incident_date": "2026-08-12", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-08-17", "org": "US District Court, Northern District of Alabama, Northeastern Division (Judge Harold D. Mooty III)", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Response brief in opposition to a motion to dismiss, plus a 179-page amended complaint", "title": "Garry Chapman v. City of Priceville, et al., No. 5:26-cv-84-HDM (2026 WL 2350902)", "what_fabricated": "AI USE IS THE COURT'S INFERENCE, NOT AN ADMISSION — SEE BELOW. The filings contained 2 cases that do not exist (Williams v. City of Anniston; City of Prichard v. Kelley); 7 quotations attributed to real cases that do not contain the quoted material (Speaker, St. George, Stimpson, Griffin Industries, Personnel Bd. of Jefferson Cnty. v. Bailey, Tumey v. Ohio, Connick v. Thompson); and 2 further statements unsupported by the authority cited, one of which misrepresented Ala. Code § 11-47-190. A further false citation appeared in the 179-page amended complaint. ON THE AI ATTRIBUTION: the order carries an Editor's Note describing “unverified citations, likely generated by AI tools,” and footnote 2 states it “appears likely from the nature of the misrepresentations that the filings at issue were generated by artificial intelligence.” No party confirmed AI use. Counsel's own sworn account was different: that his client — who has no law degree — drafted both documents acting “in the capacity of paralegal,” and that citations were transcribed from Google Scholar, JD Supra and Lexology secondary discussions “without retrieving and reading the underlying opinions.” Counsel never pulled or read any cited case before signing and filing. The court treated the two as equivalent: “This is no different than submitting AI-generated work product to the court without thoroughly checking it.”", "headline_figure": "2 fabricated cases and 7 fabricated quotations in one brief", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Order of 12 August 2026, following a sua sponte show-cause order of 9 July and a hearing on 6 August. Attorney Scott Thomas Morro PUBLICLY REPRIMANDED under Fed. R. Civ. P. 11. He was ordered to serve a copy of the order on opposing counsel and the presiding judge in every pending state or federal case in which he is counsel of record, and on his client, by 4:00 p.m. on 24 August 2026, and to certify compliance within 24 hours. The Clerk was directed to submit the order for publication in the Federal Supplement. The court expressly declined — this time — to fine him, disqualify him, suspend him from the district or refer him to the Alabama State Bar, warning that all four remain on the table.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.decaturdaily.com/news/morgan_county/priceville-lawsuit-lawyer-sanctioned-for-fabrications/article_091ca045-5fe5-4974-937f-e7264f85f77b.html", "https://www.damiencharlotin.com/documents/2836/Chapman_v._City_of_Priceville_USA_12_August_2026.pdf", "https://www.damiencharlotin.com/hallucinations/" ], "fab_types": [ "Quotes", "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2026-07-tov-realty-conn-supreme", "incident_date": "2026-07-31", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-08-17", "org": "Supreme Court of Connecticut", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Applications for certification and appellate briefs in two public interest appeals", "title": "TOV Realty, LLC v. Suarez (SC 21183) and Kosel Equity, LLC v. MacGregor (SC 21184)", "what_fabricated": "Approximately 7 erroneous and unverified citations across applications for certification and briefs in two appeals. Attorney Ian G. Gottlieb researched using LexisNexis and verified every quotation and citation through Shepard's Citations Service — then pasted the verified drafts into ChatGPT to improve organisation and quality. ChatGPT added new case citations and altered existing ones. The hallucinations did not change the legal propositions, which remained correct, so no one re-verified. The errors were caught by amici curiae represented by the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization, not by the firm.", "headline_figure": "~7 hallucinated citations, all introduced after the citations had already been verified", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Per curiam order of 31 July 2026. Attorney Gottlieb must complete 6 hours of continuing legal education in ethics and law office management (3 of which must concern generative AI) on top of the 12 hours required annually. Gottlieb and GLG Law, LLC must EACH donate $1,000 to the CT Bar Institute, Inc. Both must file a compliance report within six months, with a courtesy copy to the Statewide Grievance Committee. Gottlieb must comply with reciprocal discipline obligations in every other jurisdiction where he is admitted. The order is posted on the Judicial Branch website. Errata sheets and corrected briefs were filed. The court found a rule 1.1 (competence) violation but expressly found no intention to deceive. The law firm was held to share responsibility for having had no generative-AI policy at the time.", "source_urls": [ "https://storage.courtlistener.com/pdf/2026/08/04/tov_realty_llc_v._suarez_1.pdf", "https://www.jud.ct.gov/legalresources/NewsLog/Post?id=6857" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities", "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2026-08-barteca-tacobarn-dconn", "incident_date": "2026-08-04", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-08-17", "org": "US District Court, District of Connecticut (Judge Vernon D. Oliver)", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Motion to Dismiss and Motion to Exclude Extrinsic Evidence", "title": "Barteca Holdings LLC v. Tacobarn Newtown LLC, No. 3:26-cv-00250-VDO", "what_fabricated": "16 defective citations across two motions — 9 in the Motion to Dismiss and 7 in the Motion to Exclude Extrinsic Evidence — comprising quotations that do not exist in the cited opinions (Landscape Forms, Yurman Design, Chambers v. Time Warner, Friedl v. City of New York, Fonte), erroneous pin cites (Iqbal, O Zon, Kopec, Pearson v. Gesner, Starter Corp.), and misrepresentations of law (Streetwise Maps, Wilton v. Seven Falls, Cortec Industries). Defence counsel Hilary Miller drafted conventionally, then used Open Law, Claude and ChatGPT for suggested arguments and additional cases. He Shepardised every case in the brief through Lexis to confirm the cases existed — but did not verify that pin cites pointed to the right page or that quotations were accurate. No wholly non-existent case was cited.", "headline_figure": "16 defective citations across two motions, every underlying case real", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Order imposing sanctions, 4 August 2026. $3,500 monetary sanction payable to the Clerk of Court by 14 August 2026, plus referral to the District's Grievance Committee under Local Rule 83(c)(2). The Motion to Exclude Extrinsic Evidence was withdrawn and the Motion to Dismiss terminated, with leave to refile corrected. Every case, statute or authority cited in any future defence filing must carry a hyperlink to the corresponding Westlaw or Lexis entry. The court found subjective bad faith on the ground that Miller's Rule 11 signature certified knowledge he did not possess, while crediting his prompt acceptance of responsibility in mitigation. The court declined to order fee reimbursement because the sanction was raised sua sponte. NOTE: the recognisable name in the case caption is the plaintiff restaurant group, not the sanctioned party — the sanction fell on defence counsel personally.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/federal-judge-fines-attorney-for-ai-mistakes-in-taco-biz-beef", "https://www.damiencharlotin.com/documents/2763/Barteca_v._Tacobarn_USA_4_August_2026.pdf" ], "fab_types": [ "Quotes", "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2026-07-nl-raad-van-discipline-limburg", "incident_date": "2026-07-27", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-08-17", "org": "Raad van Discipline in het ressort 's-Hertogenbosch (Netherlands bar disciplinary tribunal), on the complaint of the deken of the Orde van Advocaten, Limburg", "sector": "Legal", "country": "Netherlands", "doc_type": "Two conclusies van antwoord (defence pleadings) in tenancy proceedings before the kantonrechter", "title": "Beslissing in zaak 26-379/DB/LI/D, ECLI:NL:TADRSHE:2026:93", "what_fabricated": "In the first file, all 8 case-law citations in the defence pleading were wrong: 1 ECLI number did not exist at all, and the other 7 ECLI numbers belonged to entirely unrelated decisions — the kantonrechter noted these included a divorce order and a criminal matter. The same pattern recurred in a second, separate tenancy file, where the pleading again contained references to partly non-existent case law. The pleading also misstated art. 7:274(1)(c) of the Dutch Civil Code and invented a 15-page limit in the Landelijke Procesrichtlijnen Civiel. The advocate said she had treated AI tools as search engines; the only tool she could name was LegalPA, which she has since cancelled.", "headline_figure": "8 of 8 case-law citations wrong in one filing — 1 non-existent, 7 pointing to unrelated decisions", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Decision of 27 July 2026. Reprimand (berisping) for breach of the core values of expertise (deskundigheid) and integrity under art. 10a Advocatenwet and of conduct rule 8, plus €1,250 in costs (€750 to the Netherlands Bar, €500 to the State). The kantonrechter had separately found a breach of art. 21 Rv but declined to strike the whole defence as disproportionate to the client. The confidentiality limb of the deken's complaint was dismissed as unproven. Mitigation: no prior discipline, and AI literacy was not yet common at the time of drafting (July 2025).", "source_urls": [ "https://tuchtrecht.overheid.nl/ECLI:NL:TADRSHE:2026:93", "https://repository.overheid.nl/frbr/tuchtrecht/2026/ECLI:NL:TADRSHE:2026:93/1/pdf/ECLI_NL_TADRSHE_2026_93.pdf", "https://www.damiencharlotin.com/documents/2713/ECLI_NL_TADRSHE_2026_93.pdf" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2025-05-politiken-voetmann-factbox", "incident_date": "2025-05-24", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-08-17", "org": "Politiken (JP/Politikens Hus)", "sector": "Media", "country": "Denmark", "doc_type": "Print and online newspaper fact box accompanying an author interview", "title": "AI-generated fact box to the Harald Voetmann interview, Bøger section, Saturday 24 May 2025", "what_fabricated": "6 discrete false statements in a single AI-generated fact box about the living author Harald Voetmann: (1) credited him with the book “Konkylier”; (2) credited him with “Vandmærket”, which is a short-story collection by Naja Marie Aidt; (3) said he had received Montanas Litteraturpris, which he had not; (4) said he won Kritikerprisen for “Helioskatastrofen”, which is a novel by Linda Boström Knausgård — he won it for “Alt under månen”; (5) misstated the citation for his Politiken Frit Flet prize; (6) dated his election to Det Danske Akademi to 2022 rather than 2021. Editor-in-chief Amalie Kestler confirmed the box was produced by an open search in the AI system Magna rather than by Politiken's archive-backed fact box tool, and was never fact-checked afterwards — “our guidelines have been broken”.", "headline_figure": "6 false statements in one fact box, including 2 books the author did not write", "consequence_type": "Corrected", "consequence_detail": "Full correction appended to the head of the online article and a separate correction run by the Readers' Editor in the Monday 26 May 2025 print edition, itemising all six errors. Politiken management emailed all staff that internal AI guidelines were being reopened for revision; one tool in Magna was removed, others adjusted, and staff training strengthened.", "source_urls": [ "https://journalisten.dk/politikens-kunstige-intelligens-lavede-faktaboks-fyldt-med-fejl/", "https://pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/digital-journalism/ai-journalism-mistakes/" ], "fab_types": [ "Claims & data", "References & studies" ] }, { "id": "2026-08-capital-standard-fla2dca", "incident_date": "2026-08-21", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-08-25", "org": "The Keefe Law Firm, P.A. (attorney Kenneth H. Keefe)", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Appellate briefs — amended initial brief and reply brief", "title": "Capital Standard, LLC v. U.S. Bank National Association, No. 2D2024-1392 (Fla. 2d DCA)", "what_fabricated": "46 hallucinated citations across two briefs — 31 in the amended initial brief and 15 in the reply brief. A mix of wholly non-existent cases, false quotations attributed to real cases, and misrepresented holdings. The court made an express finding of unverified generative-AI use, referring to \"his AI misuse\".", "headline_figure": "46 hallucinated citations across two briefs", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Fine of USD 1,500 payable to the clerk within 14 days (USD 500 for the belated show-cause response, USD 1,000 for the AI misuse); ordered to personally pay U.S. Bank the attorney's fees incurred preparing its answer brief, amount to be assessed by the trial court, with liability personal to the attorney and not chargeable to the client; referral to The Florida Bar. The amended initial brief and reply brief had already been struck on 20 February 2026.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.damiencharlotin.com/documents/2906/Capital_Standard_v._US_Bank_NA_USA_21_August_2026.pdf" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities", "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2026-08-quebec-ca-ap-sk", "incident_date": "2026-08-11", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-08-25", "org": "Cour d'appel du Québec — self-represented appellant", "sector": "Legal", "country": "Canada", "doc_type": "Appellate court filings", "title": "A.P. v. S.K., 2026 QCCA 1092, No. 500-09-700419-252", "what_fabricated": "Four non-existent decisions cited in the appellant's materials — two presented as Supreme Court of Canada judgments, two as Court of Appeal judgments. AI causation is established by admission: the appellant conceded the authorities were produced by ChatGPT, and the court found he had discovered this before filing and proceeded regardless.", "headline_figure": "Four fabricated decisions, filed after the litigant knew", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Monetary sanction of CAD 1,000 under art. 342 of the Code of Civil Procedure for a substantial breach in the conduct of the proceeding. Panel of Sansfaçon, Bachand and Harvie JJ.A. The court held that misleading the court by deliberately supporting arguments with non-existent decisions, \"whether generated by artificial intelligence or otherwise\", constitutes a serious breach. The sanctioned party is a self-represented litigant, not a regulated professional, so there is no disciplinary dimension.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.damiencharlotin.com/documents/2830/AP_v._SK_Canada_11_August_2026.pdf" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2024-10-alaska-deed-cellphone", "incident_date": "2024-10-25", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-08-25", "org": "Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (DEED)", "sector": "Government / Public sector", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Draft policy resolution presented to the State Board of Education", "title": "Resolution on cellphone restrictions in Alaska schools", "what_fabricated": "Four of six academic citations supporting the resolution were fabricated — real journals paired with non-existent article titles, and URLs resolving to unrelated studies. AI causation is established by admission: Commissioner Deena Bishop acknowledged using generative AI to produce the citations, describing the document as \"a first draft that had been posted in error\". A departmental spokesperson had initially described the false sources as \"placeholders\" used during drafting.", "headline_figure": "4 of 6 citations fabricated — and the corrected version still carried false references", "consequence_type": "Corrected", "consequence_detail": "DEED updated the document on its website after enquiries from Alaska Beacon. The correction was incomplete: the updated version the Commissioner said had been reviewed and voted on by the State Board still contained false references.", "source_urls": [ "https://alaskabeacon.com/2024/10/28/alaska-education-department-published-false-ai-generated-academic-citations-in-cell-policy-document/", "https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/education/2024/10/28/false-citations-show-alaska-education-official-relied-on-generative-ai-raising-broader-questions/" ], "fab_types": [ "References & studies" ] }, { "id": "2026-02-india-sc-gummadi-usha-rani", "incident_date": "2026-02-27", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-08-25", "org": "Trial court, Andhra Pradesh — order reviewed by the Supreme Court of India", "sector": "Legal", "country": "India", "doc_type": "Trial court order", "title": "Gummadi Usha Rani & Anr v. Sure Mallikarjuna Rao & Anr, SLP(C) No. 7575/2026", "what_fabricated": "Four judgments cited by the trial court in dismissing objections to an Advocate Commissioner's Report did not exist. AI causation is established by a judicial finding: the High Court \"realized that the judgments are Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated\", as recorded by the Supreme Court. The fabricator here is a judge, not counsel.", "headline_figure": "A judge decided a case on four judgments that did not exist", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Bench of Narasimha and Aradhe JJ, order of 27 February 2026. The Court: \"a decision based on such non-existent and fake alleged judgments is not an error in the decision making. It would be a misconduct and legal consequence shall follow.\" The trial court was directed not to proceed on the basis of the Advocate Commissioner's Report; notice was issued to the Attorney General, the Solicitor General and the Bar Council of India; senior counsel Mr Shyam Divan was appointed to assist the Court. NOTE: the consequence is judicial intervention and institutional referral rather than a personal sanction — the four-value consequence ladder has no closer term.", "source_urls": [ "https://api.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2026/6571/6571_2026_6_22_68896_Order_27-Feb-2026.pdf" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2026-07-uspto-oed-mitchell", "incident_date": "2026-07-27", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-08-31", "org": "United States Patent and Trademark Office, Office of Enrollment and Discipline (respondent: Brian E. Mitchell, Registration No. 50,612, San Francisco, California)", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Joint Claim Construction Chart (patent litigation); USPTO disciplinary final order", "title": "In re Brian E. Mitchell, Final Order, Proceeding No. D2026-16 (USPTO OED)", "what_fabricated": "Citations, quotations and parentheticals to the patent's INTRINSIC RECORD — the specification, figures and prosecution history — in the plaintiff's portion of a Joint Claim Construction Chart. Per the joint stipulated facts, many \"referred to portions of the record that did not exist or were inaccurately attributed\". Notable as a fabrication of the record of the case itself rather than of external case law, which defeats the standard \"check the cited authorities exist\" control.", "headline_figure": "Public reprimand; 4 violations of the USPTO Rules of Professional Conduct", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Public reprimand by Final Order dated 27 July 2026, signed by Tricia Choe on delegated authority from USPTO Director John A. Squires. Four violations under 37 C.F.R.: § 11.101 (competence), § 11.103 (diligence), § 11.804(c) (misrepresentation) and § 11.804(d) (conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice). Order published in the OED electronic FOIA reading room with a Notice of Public Reprimand in the Official Gazette. NO suspension, probation, CLE condition or monetary penalty. The underlying district court — Magpul Industries Corp. v. Mission First Tactical Group, Inc. et al., No. 2:24-cv-5551 (E.D. Pa.) — imposed no sanctions on the attorney or his client, so the USPTO discipline is the only consequence. Resolved by settlement agreement executed 20-21 July 2026; respondent waived reconsideration, review and appeal.", "source_urls": [ "https://foiadocuments.uspto.gov/oed/Mitchell-Order-D2026-16-Redacted.pdf", "https://ipwatchdog.com/2026/08/28/uspto-issues-its-first-ai-predicated-discipline-order-involving-hallucinated-cites-to-intrinsic-record/" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities", "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2025-07-cormedix-dnj-neals", "incident_date": "2025-07-23", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-09-07", "org": "United States District Court for the District of New Jersey — chambers of Judge Julien Xavier Neals", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Opinion and Order on motions to dismiss (securities class action) — issued by the court itself", "title": "In re CorMedix Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 2:21-cv-14020 (D.N.J.) — Opinion and Order of 30 June 2025, withdrawn", "what_fabricated": "Two quotations attributed to the defendants that do not appear in the sources cited for them — that Todisco publicly stated CorMedix had \"resolved all issues related to manufacturing\", and that CorMedix issued statements in October 2019 that the company had \"all necessary controls and processes in ... place for approval\". The opinion also misstated the outcomes of cited cases, indicating that motions to dismiss were denied when they had in fact been granted. Errors identified by Chairman Grassley, Senate Committee on the Judiciary, in his letter of 6 October 2025.", "headline_figure": "Two fabricated quotations and misstated case outcomes in a federal court's own opinion", "consequence_type": "Withdrawn", "consequence_detail": "Defence counsel wrote to the court on 22 July 2025. On 23 July 2025 Judge Neals entered a text order (ECF No. 126) recording that the 30 June 2025 Opinion and Order \"were entered in error\" and directing the Clerk of Court to remove them from the docket. Judge Neals wrote to the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts on 20 October 2025, answering questions put by Senator Grassley on 6 October; the Senate Judiciary Committee published the reply on 23 October 2025.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/60081508/authorities/in-re-cormedix-inc-securities-litigation/", "https://www.grassley.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/grassley_to_the_honorable_julien_xavier_neals_-_ai_oversight.pdf" ], "fab_types": [ "Quotes", "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2025-07-jackson-federation-sdmiss-wingate", "incident_date": "2025-07-23", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-09-07", "org": "United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi — chambers of Judge Henry T. Wingate", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Temporary restraining order — issued by the court itself", "title": "Jackson Federation of Teachers v Fitch, No. 3:25-cv-00417 (S.D. Miss.) — temporary restraining order of 20 July 2025, replaced", "what_fabricated": "Chairman Grassley's letter of 6 October 2025 records that the order contained \"serious inaccuracies, including: (1) naming plaintiffs and defendants that are not parties in this case; (2) misquoting the statutory text; (3) making factually inaccurate statements that are not supported by the record; and (4) referencing declarations of four individuals who do not appear anywhere in this case\".", "headline_figure": "Non-party plaintiffs and defendants, misquoted statutory text, and declarations of four people not in the record", "consequence_type": "Corrected", "consequence_detail": "The docket entry for the 20 July 2025 order carries its own correction: \"Main Document 51 replaced on 7/23/2025.\" Judge Wingate wrote to the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts on 21 October 2025, answering questions put by Senator Grassley on 6 October; the Senate Judiciary Committee published the reply on 23 October 2025, in which he records that \"the original July 20, 2025, Order had been removed and was replaced on July 23, 2025\".", "source_urls": [ "https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70496210/jackson-federation-of-teachers-v-lynn-fitch/", "https://www.grassley.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/grassley_to_the_honorable_henry_twingateaioversight.pdf" ], "fab_types": [ "Quotes", "Sources & experts" ] }, { "id": "2024-06-sage-envplan-tabor", "incident_date": "2024-06-04", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-09-07", "org": "Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space (Sage Publishing)", "sector": "Academic / Research", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Peer-reviewed journal article", "title": "“Breeding distrust: The biopolitics of chronic wasting disease in white-tailed deer”", "what_fabricated": "Multiple erroneous entries in the article's reference list, characterised in the reporting as “incorrectly cited, abjectly false, or obviously manufactured”, including at least one citation to a publication dated 2026 — two years in the future at the time of publication.", "headline_figure": "18 references corrected by corrigendum; a March 2024 paper citing a non-existent 2026 publication", "consequence_type": "Corrected", "consequence_detail": "A Corrigendum was published on 4 June 2024 (DOI 10.1177/25148486241258320), issue-dated August 2024, correcting 18 references. The acknowledgements were updated to disclose ChatGPT assistance in line with Sage policy. The corrigendum records that the corrections do not alter the study's results or conclusions. Retraction Watch reported on 20 May 2024 that the journal would take corrective action pending publisher approval; the corrigendum is the action actually taken.", "source_urls": [ "https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/25148486241258320", "https://retractionwatch.com/2024/05/20/journal-taking-corrective-actions-after-learning-author-used-chatgpt-to-update-references/" ], "fab_types": [ "References & studies" ] }, { "id": "2026-08-sdt-kumar-rfl", "incident_date": "2026-08-25", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-09-07", "org": "Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (England & Wales); prosecuting regulator: Solicitors Regulation Authority Ltd", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United Kingdom", "doc_type": "Answer filed in the respondent's OWN disciplinary proceedings (dated 12 March 2026), plus a follow-up email to the regulator (9 April 2026)", "title": "Solicitors Regulation Authority Ltd v Abhishek Kumar, SDT case 12884/2026", "what_fabricated": "Non-existent case citations and incorrect legal propositions, together with misleading quotations, in the respondent's Answer to the Tribunal — and then FURTHER false material in the email sent to explain the first set. Two of the cases cited were relied on for propositions the authorities did not support, so real authorities were misrepresented alongside invented ones. SCOPE POINT: the Tribunal found the allegation proved “in respect of the citing of non-existent cases and incorrect legal propositions” but held that TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS IN CASE CITATIONS WERE NOT SUFFICIENTLY SERIOUS TO AMOUNT TO MISCONDUCT — a tribunal drawing the same line this register draws between a wrong citation and an invented one.", "headline_figure": "Struck off the Register of Foreign Lawyers", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Struck off the register of foreign lawyers; cannot practise. NO COSTS ORDER — the SRA accepted the respondent was impecunious and did not seek costs. The Tribunal found he “had embarked on the use of AI without giving any proper thought to the consequences”. He advanced “technological negligence” rather than intentional deception. Date chain: hearing 29 July 2026 · judgment 25 August 2026 · Tribunal publication 3 September 2026 · press reporting 4 September 2026.", "source_urls": [ "https://solicitorstribunal.org.uk/judgments/", "https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/lawyer-struck-off-for-using-fake-ai-generated-cases-before-sdt", "https://www.cityam.com/lawyer-struck-off-for-using-fake-ai-evidence-in-his-own-disciplinary-case/" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities", "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2026-03-israel-sc-ramat-gan", "incident_date": "2026-03-22", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-09-07", "org": "Ramat Gan Municipality", "sector": "Government / Public sector", "country": "Israel", "doc_type": "Municipality's submissions in administrative appeal proceedings", "title": "עע\"מ 63194-08-25 — Ben Cohen v. Ramat Gan Municipality (Supreme Court of Israel, 22 March 2026)", "what_fabricated": "A NON-EXISTENT CIRCULAR OF THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DIRECTOR-GENERAL, together with multiple fabricated recent court precedents, relied on by the municipality in its submissions. The invented circular is the notable part: the fabrication was of a GOVERNMENT POLICY INSTRUMENT, not only of case law — a public authority citing a directive of its own state that did not exist.", "headline_figure": "₪30,000 in costs against a municipality", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "The Supreme Court of Israel, sitting on an administrative appeal, ordered the municipality to pay ₪30,000 in costs. Solberg DP held that “uncontrolled use by the authority of AI within its direct relations with the citizen opens the door to strict judicial review” and may justify “substantial relief”. Knafo Steinmetz J held that “human in the loop” cannot mean mere technical oversight — an authority must show substantive involvement, continuous monitoring, and the capacity to reject an AI recommendation.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.law.co.il/news/2026/03/23/court-rules-against-unregulated-ai-use/", "https://www.pearlcohen.com/israeli-supreme-court-punishes-municipalitys-reckless-use-of-ai/", "https://www.israelhayom.co.il/news/local/article/20171501", "https://www.mako.co.il/news-israel/2026_q1/Article-eb1534d7a161d91026.htm" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities", "Claims & data" ] }, { "id": "2026-08-accs-age-assurance-au", "incident_date": "2026-08-17", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-09-07", "org": "Age Check Certification Scheme (ACCS)", "sector": "Government / Public sector", "country": "Australia", "doc_type": "Government-commissioned research report (Age Assurance Technology Trial final report)", "title": "Age Assurance Technology Trial — Final Report", "what_fabricated": "Fabricated and unverifiable academic citations in the “emerging technologies” chapter: DOIs resolving to nothing, DOIs pointing at a different paper than the one cited, and author/journal/year combinations matching no known publication. A separate category of defect was also found — correct articles cited that do not contain the claims attributed to them, which is misattribution rather than invention. Guardian Australia separately found FOUR citation URLs carrying a chatgpt.com source tag. NO REGULATOR OR TRIBUNAL FINDING ON AI CAUSATION FOR THE CITATIONS EXISTS. ACCS ADMITS CHATGPT WAS USED TO EDIT PROSE AND DENIES IT GENERATED THE CITATIONS.", "headline_figure": "A$3.48 million trial; 6 flawed citations reported, 3 acknowledged by ACCS; 4 citation URLs carrying a chatgpt.com source tag", "consequence_type": "Corrected", "consequence_detail": "ACCS was contracted by the Australian Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts. The report has NOT been withdrawn and the responsible minister has not withdrawn her endorsement. ACCS supplied corrections which themselves contained fresh errors, including backdated access dates. Department officials told the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee the errors were “a handful” across 26 pages and attributed some to links breaking after publication, without verifying that. The report underpins Australia's under-16 social media ban.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.techtimes.com/articles/324763/20260817/chatgpt-fabricated-citations-backed-australia-social-media-ban-senate-hears.htm", "https://www.biometricupdate.com/202608/australian-age-assurance-regulator-a-step-closer-to-stronger-investigatory-powers", "https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/department/media/publications/age-assurance-technology-trial-final-report" ], "fab_types": [ "References & studies", "Claims & data" ] }, { "id": "2026-04-arihq-sante-quebec-qccs", "incident_date": "2026-04-22", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-09-07", "org": "Arbitral tribunal — sole arbitrator, Me Michel A. Jeanniot", "sector": "Legal", "country": "Canada", "doc_type": "Arbitral award — produced by the decision-maker himself", "title": "Association des ressources intermédiaires d'hébergement du Québec (ARIHQ) c. Santé Québec — CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, 2026 QCCS 1360", "what_fabricated": "FIVE non-existent authorities in the arbitrator's own reasons, each identified in the judgment: (1) a doctrinal article attributed to Frédéric Bachand, « Prescription et déchéance : frontières mouvantes et enjeux pratiques », Développements récents en droit des contrats, Barreau du Québec, 2016 (note 4), which the Court found “introuvable”; (2) Ville de Montréal c. Syndicat des cols bleus regroupés de Montréal, 2005 QCCA 591 (note 5), “inexistante”; (3) Groleau et Groupe Pages Jaunes Cie, 2011 QCCS 5386 (note 6), which “n'existe pas”; (4) Tremblay c. Commission scolaire de la Jonquière, 2002 CanLII 24357 (QCCA) (note 7), “inexistante”; and (5) the arbitral award Arbitrage CHU Ste-Justine (D.T.E. 2018-30) (note 8), which SOQUIJ confirmed does not exist. The Court recorded at [106] that the decisions cited at footnotes 5 to 7 do not exist, and that each neutral citation led to an unrelated decision.", "headline_figure": "Arbitral award annulled; five non-existent authorities in the decision-maker's own reasons", "consequence_type": "Withdrawn", "consequence_detail": "The Superior Court of Quebec (Commercial Division), Martin F. Sheehan J.C.S., ANNULLED the arbitral award rendered on 8 August 2025 by Me Michel A. Jeanniot [122]; ORDERED the parties to choose a new arbitrator within 60 days of the judgment [123]; and awarded costs [124]. The Court held at [120] that the breach was important and that, the non-existent decisions being “au cœur du raisonnement de l'arbitre”, a party could reasonably think a more thorough verification would have led the arbitrator to revisit his position; at [121] it concluded the breach had probably had an important impact on the result.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.canlii.org/fr/qc/qccs/doc/2026/2026qccs1360/2026qccs1360.html" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities", "References & studies" ] }, { "id": "2026-08-ledoux-kababick-expert-wdwash", "incident_date": "2026-08-18", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-09-07", "org": "US District Court, Western District of Washington (Judge Tiffany M. Cartwright), case 3:24-cv-05808-TMC. Report author: James Kababick, retained testifying expert for the plaintiff.", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "EXPERT WITNESS REPORT — the expert's own document, not a pleading and not attorney work product", "title": "LeDoux v. Outliers, Inc., 2026 WL 2408808 (W.D. Wash. 18 Aug 2026) (unpublished)", "what_fabricated": "Hallucinated citations to ACADEMIC ARTICLES inside a retained expert's report, together with citation errors identical to those in a second expert's report. ⚠️ UNUSUAL FOR THIS REGISTER AND THE REASON THE ROW EXISTS: the register's Legal rows are overwhelmingly fabricated LEGAL AUTHORITIES in filings by counsel. Here the fabricated material is SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE, inside an expert's own report, in a product-liability matter about nootropic supplements. 🔴 THE DOCUMENT IS THE EXPERT'S; THE FABRICATION IS COUNSEL'S. Counsel generated the citation table and supplied it to both testifying experts as an appendix, and on her own later account prepared the expert reports; the expert signed without verifying. The court's 4 February 2026 order records that a second expert's report \"cites the same articles and includes the same citation errors\".", "headline_figure": "Expert report excluded under FRE 702; claims dismissed with prejudice", "consequence_type": "Withdrawn", "consequence_detail": "The court excluded the expert's report, holding the fabricated citations rendered the opinions unreliable under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and that they \"shatter … his credibility with this Court\". With the evidence excluded the plaintiff could not withstand summary judgment and the claims were dismissed WITH PREJUDICE. ⚠️ SEPARATE AND EARLIER, AND NOT THIS ROW: on 9 January 2026 the same judge STRUCK expert evidence under Rule 37(c)(1) — a DISCOVERY sanction, not a fabrication one — and granted partial summary judgment on the amphetamine-adulteration claims. That order expressly DEFERRED the AI question: \"The Court will address these arguments in a separate order.\" The 18 August order is that separate order.", "source_urls": [ "https://nwsidebar.wsba.org/2026/08/31/federal-court-excludes-expert-for-ai-hallucinated-citations/", "https://cases.justia.com/federal/district-courts/washington/wawdce/3:2024cv05808/339711/202/0.pdf", "https://cases.justia.com/federal/district-courts/washington/wawdce/3:2024cv05808/339711/209/0.pdf" ], "fab_types": [ "References & studies", "Sources & experts" ] }, { "id": "2026-03-blue-biotechnology-fish-nutrigenomics", "incident_date": "2026-03-06", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-09-16", "org": "Blue Biotechnology (Springer Nature)", "sector": "Academic / Research", "country": "India", "doc_type": "Review article", "title": "Fish nutrigenomics: unravelling the genetic code for sustainable aquaculture and improved nutritional benefits, Blue Biotechnology 2:19 (2025) — retracted 6 March 2026", "what_fabricated": "According to the journal's retraction note, the majority of the article's references appear to be non-existent. The note gives no count.", "headline_figure": "Most references non-existent; review retracted", "consequence_type": "Withdrawn", "consequence_detail": "Retracted by the Editor-in-Chief on 6 March 2026 over the undeclared use of generative AI and self-citation recycling; the editor no longer had confidence in the reliability of the contents. All authors disagree with the retraction.", "source_urls": [ "https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s44315-026-00053-1" ], "fab_types": [ "References & studies" ] }, { "id": "2026-09-nm-sc-aarons-sandoval", "incident_date": "2026-09-09", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-09-16", "org": "Supreme Court of New Mexico", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Brief in chief in a direct appeal from a murder conviction", "title": "State v. Sandoval, No. S-1-SC-40845 (N.M. 2026) — Dispositional Order of Direct Contempt (non-precedential)", "what_fabricated": "Testimony from wholly fabricated witnesses, including two police officers; false testimony attributed to real witnesses; and misrepresented legal authority in two cited cases — in an appeal from a murder conviction.", "headline_figure": "Direct contempt; $5,000; barred from the Court", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "The Court held counsel in direct contempt, referred him to the Disciplinary Board, barred him from appearing before it pending that outcome, ordered $5,000 paid to the State Bar Client Protection Fund, struck all briefing in the appeal and appointed the Public Defender for new briefing.", "source_urls": [ "https://nmonesource.com/nmos/nmsc/en/item/538584/index.do", "https://reason.com/volokh/2026/09/14/the-brief-contained-false-testimony-from-wholly-fabricated-witnesses/", "https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/9/11/us-lawyer-cites-fake-witnesses-in-murder-case-blames-chatgpt" ], "fab_types": [ "Sources & experts", "Quotes", "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2023-11-sports-illustrated-advon", "incident_date": "2023-11-27", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-09-16", "org": "Sports Illustrated (The Arena Group)", "sector": "Media", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Product-review articles", "title": "Sports Illustrated product reviews published under fabricated author profiles (e.g. \"Drew Ortiz\") — removed November 2023", "what_fabricated": "Author identities: bylines and biographies for writers with no verifiable existence, with profile photos that were on sale on an AI-generated headshot marketplace. The publisher denied the article text itself was AI-generated.", "headline_figure": "Fake bylines, AI headshots; content pulled", "consequence_type": "Withdrawn", "consequence_detail": "The Arena Group removed the AdVon-supplied content while an internal investigation continued and ended its partnership with AdVon, per its statement of 27 November 2023.", "source_urls": [ "https://futurism.com/sports-illustrated-ai-generated-writers", "https://x.com/SInow/status/1729275460922622374" ], "fab_types": [ "Sources & experts" ] }, { "id": "2026-02-tsj-canarias-48-sentencias", "incident_date": "2026-02-10", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-09-21", "org": "Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Canarias, Sala de lo Penal", "sector": "Legal", "country": "Spain", "doc_type": "Recurso de apelación (criminal appeal brief)", "title": "Appeal brief citing 48 non-existent Supreme Court judgments and a non-existent CGPJ report", "what_fabricated": "48 judgments of the Spanish Supreme Court, cited with judgment numbers, dates and identifiers, none of which exist, plus one non-existent report of the Consejo General del Poder Judicial. The court's own documentary specialist verified the citations and confirmed they did not exist.", "headline_figure": "48 fabricated judgments cited as authority", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "€420 fine imposed on the lawyer by resolution of the Sala de lo Penal dated 10 February 2026. The CGPJ records that when confronted the lawyer admitted the facts and expressed remorse. The court's stated basis: he “se valió de una herramienta de Inteligencia Artificial ‘generalista’” and “no contrastó que los números de sentencia, las fechas y los identificadores existieran efectivamente” — he did not cross-check the AI tool's output against jurisprudence databases, “lo que le hubiera puesto sobre aviso”. Cited as precedent by the TSXG Galicia auto of 7 July 2026.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.poderjudicial.es/cgpj/es/Poder-Judicial/Noticias-Judiciales/El-TSJ-de-Canarias-multa-a-un-abogado-por-citar-hasta-48-sentencias-falsas-sugeridas-por-IA", "https://www.elespanol.com/espana/tribunales/20260213/multa-euros-abogado-citar-escrito-sentencias-falsas-generadas-inteligencia-artificial/1003744129079_0.html", "https://www.xataka.com/magnet/tribunal-superior-justicia-canarias-multa-a-abogado-citar-48-sentencias-falsas-se-habia-sugerido-ia" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2026-09-aguilar-crawford-dmass", "incident_date": "2026-09-25", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-10-05", "org": "US District Court, District of Massachusetts", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Court filings — oppositions to motions to strike and to dismiss", "title": "Aguilar v. The Crawford Group, Inc., No. 25-CV-12395-AK (D. Mass.) — Rule 11 sanctions order, Dkt. 155 (oppositions at Dkt. 51, 93 and 97)", "what_fabricated": "Legal authorities and quotations. The court's order records a fictitious Westlaw citation; at least five other cases cited for quotations they do not contain; multiple cases cited for propositions they do not stand for; and that roughly half the citations in the Strike Opposition contained errors.", "headline_figure": "Up to $10,000 in fees; pro hac vice admission revoked", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Fed. R. Civ. P. 11 sanction, order of 25 September 2026 (Dkt. 155): the Lindemann Law Firm to pay the Enterprise Defendants' reasonable attorney's fees and costs up to $10,000. That is a cap: the amount payable is whatever those fees are assessed at, and the order does not fix it. Lindemann's pro hac vice admission revoked; local counsel remains as the plaintiff's representative. Status conference set for 9 November 2026.", "source_urls": [ "https://cases.justia.com/federal/district-courts/massachusetts/madce/1:2025cv12395/288446/155/0.pdf" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities", "Quotes" ] }, { "id": "2025-09-moron-sala1-acevedo", "incident_date": "2025-09-15", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-10-05", "org": "Cámara de Apelación en lo Civil y Comercial de Morón, Sala I", "sector": "Legal", "country": "Argentina", "doc_type": "Court filing — expresión de agravios (statement of grounds of appeal)", "title": "Acevedo, Gerardo Gabriel c/ Cáceres Mareco, Willian Arsenio y Agrosalta Cooperativa de Seguros Limitada s/ daños y perjuicios, expte MO-19435-2020 — expresión de agravios", "what_fabricated": "Legal authorities. The grounds of appeal cited a decision attributed to the same tribunal — \"Barrios, Rubén Darío c/ Acuña, Gustavo Gabriel s/ Daños y perjuicios\", causa 61.169. The court, trying to locate it, could find neither the judgment nor the case; other precedents cited were likewise not found. The court established that the cited authorities do not exist. It made no finding that artificial intelligence produced them.", "headline_figure": "No sum — appeal declared desierto; court declined to sanction the lawyer", "consequence_type": "Withdrawn", "consequence_detail": "The appeal was declared desierto (deserted), with costs on the appellant, and the court ordered the decision communicated by oficio to the Colegio de Abogados and brought to the attention of the plaintiff's lawyer. The court expressly declined to impose a sanction on the lawyer, preferring \"un enfoque empático y colaborativo\".", "source_urls": [ "https://www.scba.gov.ar/paginas.asp?id=57443", "https://www.scba.gov.ar/includes/descarga.asp?id=57443&n=Ver%20sentencia%20(causa%2019.435).pdf", "https://revistaquorum.com.ar/2025/09/16/chatgpt-en-tribunales-un-abogado-cito-jurisprudencia-falsa-y-perdio-la-apelacion/" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2023-06-preprints-millipedes-mawcha", "incident_date": "2023-06-25", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-10-05", "org": "Preprints.org (MDPI) and Research Square", "sector": "Academic / Research", "country": "Rwanda", "doc_type": "Preprint review article — authors at institutions in Rwanda, South Africa and China", "title": "From Beneficial Arthropods to Soil-Dwelling Organisms: A Review on Millipedes (Preprints.org 202306.1339; reposted on Research Square as rs-3257909)", "what_fabricated": "References & studies. The manuscript carried a reference list of 129 entries. Five references examined at random by Professor David Richard Nash (University of Copenhagen), alerted by millipede taxonomist Henrik Enghoff, were all fictitious. Retraction Watch reported that the revised list on the repost still mostly consisted of fictitious papers. The total number of fabricated references is not established.", "headline_figure": "Withdrawn twice, six days after each posting", "consequence_type": "Withdrawn", "consequence_detail": "Two withdrawals of the same work by two platforms. (1) Preprints.org (MDPI): withdrawal statement dated 25 June 2023, six days after posting on 19 June 2023; Preprints.org's Lloyd Shu told Retraction Watch: \"We will withdraw it immediately and add the authors of this preprint to our blacklist.\" (2) Research Square, where the authors reposted a revised version on 25 August 2023: withdrawn on 31 August 2023, six days later. Its notice reads: \"The full text of this preprint has been withdrawn by Research Square due to the presence of fake citations.\"", "source_urls": [ "https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202306.1339", "https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-3257909/v1", "https://retractionwatch.com/2023/07/07/publisher-blacklists-authors-after-preprint-cites-made-up-studies/", "https://retractionwatch.com/2023/09/01/withdrawn-ai-written-preprint-on-millipedes-resurfaces-causing-alarm/", "https://retractionwatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Mawcha-et-al-2023.pdf" ], "fab_types": [ "References & studies" ] }, { "id": "2026-05-payne-ga-sc-leslie", "incident_date": "2026-05-05", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-10-13", "org": "Clayton County District Attorney's Office", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Court order", "title": "Order denying Hannah Renee Payne's motion for new trial, Superior Court of Clayton County, 12 September 2025 — prepared by ADA Deborah Leslie", "what_fabricated": "Citations to cases that do not exist, carried in a court's own order. The Supreme Court of Georgia found that the State's filings and the trial court's order 'contain multiple case citations which either do not exist, or which exist but do not support the propositions of law', and that the order 'contains numerous fictitious or misattributed case citations'. The opinion describes the order as 'largely prepared by ADA Leslie' and records that the order 'reflects that ADA Leslie prepared that order'. Footnote 2: Bryant v. State 'appears not to exist at all'; Hamm v. State does not support its cited proposition. THE COURT GIVES NO SINGLE TOTAL: nine citations in the trial court's order that do not exist or do not support the propositions; 12 further cases in the State's trial-court briefing that ADA Leslie acknowledged were AI-generated, unverified and unsupportive; and nine authorities in the State's 16 December 2025 appellate brief on which she withdrew reliance. THE COURT MAKES NO FINDING ON FABRICATED QUOTATIONS — 'case quotations that do not accurately reflect' is ADA Leslie's own language in her withdrawal, not the Court's.", "headline_figure": "Nine citations in the trial court's order that do not exist or do not support the propositions", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Supreme Court of Georgia, decided 5 May 2026: (1) the trial court's 12 September 2025 order denying the motion for new trial is VACATED and the case REMANDED with instructions that the new order contain no fictitious or misattributed citations and not be prepared by counsel for either party; (2) ADA Deborah Leslie's privilege to practise before the Supreme Court of Georgia is SUSPENDED FOR SIX MONTHS, reinstatement conditional on 12 hours of continuing legal education beyond the regular requirement, covering ethics, brief writing and the proper use of AI software; (3) ADA Leslie and the Clayton County District Attorney's Office are ADMONISHED for failing to verify citations; (4) the Motion to Clarify is granted and the State must produce related communications with the trial court. No monetary sanction. No referral to the State Bar or the Judicial Qualifications Commission — footnote 4 says only that the sanctions are case-specific and do not affect disciplinary proceedings others may bring. Justices LaGrua and Colvin concur in part and dissent in part, and only as to admonishing the elected district attorney.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.gasupreme.us/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/s26a0459.pdf", "https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ga-supreme-court/118328739.html", "https://www.ajc.com/news/2026/03/clayton-prosecutor-admits-using-ai-in-filings-flagged-by-chief-justice/" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2026-05-tjpr-agravo-interno-0108267", "incident_date": "2026-05-15", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-10-13", "org": "Tribunal de Justiça do Estado do Paraná, 9ª Câmara Cível", "sector": "Legal", "country": "Brazil", "doc_type": "Court filing (agravo interno)", "title": "Agravo interno in processo 0108267-74.2025.8.16.0000, TJ/PR, 9ª Câmara Cível", "what_fabricated": "A judicial precedent cited to the court and not found in the issuing authority's own repository. The filing cited 'AgInt no REsp 1.988.733/SP', attributed to minister Moura Ribeiro of the Superior Tribunal de Justiça (julgado 20/03/2023, DJe 22/03/2023). THE COURT USES TWO FORMULATIONS, BOTH IN ITS OWN REASONING, AND THEY ARE LINKED: in the analysis, the authority 'não foi localizada no repositório oficial junto ao site do STJ, o que induz à conclusão de ter sido “confeccionada” por inteligência artificial'; in the conclusion on má-fé, the court rests the finding on 'a citação de precedente jurisprudencial inexistente'. The court records that the appellant was given the chance to show the precedent existed and instead argued that 'a ausência de localização do precedente pela parte adversa não implica, automaticamente, em sua inexistência'. The opposing party's own earlier phrase 'precedente inexistente' is the party's argument, not the court's. THE REGISTER SHOULD NOT STATE MORE THAN THE COURT DID: the court reasoned from non-location in the STJ's official repository to non-existence, and proceeded on the basis that the precedent does not exist.", "headline_figure": "2% of the updated value of the cause of origin, for litigância de má-fé", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Acordão of 15 May 2026, TJ/PR 9ª Câmara Cível, relator Des. Luis Sérgio Swiech, BY UNANIMOUS VOTE: the court knew of and denied the agravo interno, applied a fine for litigância de má-fé, and ordered an ofício issued to the OAB/PR. The fine is fixed in the body of the judgment: 'fixo em 2% (dois por cento) sobre o valor atualizado da causa de origem', 'nos termos do artigo 81, do CPC'. NEITHER THE VALUE OF THE CAUSE NOR ANY AMOUNT IN REAIS APPEARS ANYWHERE IN THE DOCUMENT AS THE COURT'S OWN FIGURE (the only R$ figure in the document sits inside a quoted precedent from another chamber, about a different party's income, and is unrelated). The referral is 'a expedição de ofício à Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil – Seção do Paraná' to examine 'eventual infração disciplinar' under 'artigo 34, XIV, do Estatuto da Advocacia' — A REFERRAL FOR ASSESSMENT, NOT A COMPLETED DISCIPLINARY CONSEQUENCE, AND IT IS NOT RELIED ON. The appellant was acting 'em causa própria' — he was both the party and his own lawyer — and the fine falls on him as a party while the conduct question went to the bar.", "source_urls": [ "https://arq.migalhas.com.br/arquivos/2026/6/0480FF4A55ACBD_TJPRvema-feemultaadvogadoporju.pdf", "https://www.migalhas.com.br/quentes/459252/tj-pr-ve-ma-fe-e-multa-advogado-por-julgado-confeccionado-por-ia" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities" ] }, { "id": "2026-06-oregon-sc-aldridge-tussing", "incident_date": "2026-06-04", "date_precision": "day", "date_logged": "2026-10-13", "org": "Oregon Supreme Court", "sector": "Legal", "country": "United States", "doc_type": "Court filing — petition for writ of mandamus and supporting memoranda", "title": "Aldridge v. Tussing, S072780 (Or.) — mandamus petition and supporting documents struck, proceeding dismissed", "what_fabricated": "Legal authorities and quotations. The fetched summary of the order has the court saying the relators' supporting memoranda 'appeared to include citations to cases that do not exist' and quotations not found in the cited cases; that their 16 April 2026 declaration, filed under penalty of perjury, cited at least four cases the court says do not exist in the Oregon Appellate Reports or Oregon Reports; and that the relators attributed the errors to a generative AI service called LegalAI while also saying they relied at least in part on Google Scholar. The owner is to confirm the exact wording from the order.", "headline_figure": "Petition struck and proceeding dismissed; no dollar figure", "consequence_type": "Sanctioned", "consequence_detail": "Order of 4 June 2026: the court struck the relators' amended petition for writ of mandamus and supporting documents (Docket Entry No. 5) and their response to the order to show cause (Docket Entry 17); dismissed the proceeding; dismissed as moot their motions for a stay, for leave to file a supplemental memorandum and for administrative intervention; designated the adverse party the prevailing party with no costs allowed. The order says repeated conduct, especially in response to a show cause order, 'warrants imposition of a meaningful sanction'; NO DOLLAR AMOUNT, FINE OR OTHER NAMED SANCTION APPEARS IN THE ORDER AS READ. The OPB article's report of a $500 fine in this matter is not borne out by the order; the $500 is in the Witkin order.", "source_urls": [ "https://www.courts.oregon.gov/publications/sc/SC%20Opinions/Order_Miscellaneous_Case_Order_Aldridge_v_Tussing_S072780.pdf", "https://www.opb.org/article/2026/06/05/oregon-supreme-court-ai-falsehoods/" ], "fab_types": [ "Legal authorities", "Quotes" ] } ] }