The perils of legal AI

Lawyers warned they may face contempt proceedings for citing fake cases

Lawyers accused of citing cases that do not exist in two recent High Court actions have been warned that judges may initiate contempt of court proceedings against them. If found in contempt, they could be punished with imprisonment.

Non-existent “authorities” — decided cases on which the courts rely — may be generated when parties use artificial intelligence (AI) to produce their submissions.

Named lawyers involved in the two cases have been given until Wednesday to explain what happened, ahead of a hearing before senior judges later this week.