ChatGPT invents UK capital gains tax legal cases
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Occurred: December 2023
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A UK legal tribunal ruled that an appellant unknowingly submitted nine fictitious legal cases generated by an AI system, likely ChatGPT, to support her appeal against a capital gains tax penalty.Β
What happened
What happened
Felicity Harber used a generative AI system - considered likely to have been ChatGPT - to support her legal case, according to the First-tier Tribunal.
The Tribunal determined that all nine cited cases cited by Harber had been fabricated and lacked any presence in legitimate legal databases.
The citations exhibited characteristics typical of AI-generated content, such as American English spelling and repetitive phrases.
Why it happened
Why it happened
Judge Anne Redston acknowledged that Harber was unaware of the fakeness of the cases and did not know how to verify their authenticity.Β
Despite this, her appeal was dismissed on the grounds that her mental health condition did not prevent her from seeking tax advice or contacting HMRC. Harber received a penalty of GBP 3,265 for failing to notify HMRC of her liability after selling a property.Β
What it means
What it means
Despite Ms Harber's claim that her use of fake citations "did not matter", the case highlights the implications of presenting non-existent cases in court, resulting in wasted time and resources, potentially undermining judicial precedents and fostering cynicism and distrust in the legal process.
Hallucination (artificial intelligence)
In the field of artificial intelligence (AI), a hallucination or artificial hallucination (also called bullshitting, confabulation or delusion) is a response generated by AI that contains false or misleading information presented as fact.
Source: Wikipedia π
System π€
System π€
Operator: Felicity Harber
Developer: OpenAI
Country: UK
Sector: Business/professional services
Purpose: Generate text
Technology: Chatbot; Generative AI; Machine learning
Issue: Accuracy/reliability
Legal, regulatory π©πΌββοΈ
Legal, regulatory π©πΌββοΈ
Page info
Type: Incident
Published: October 2024
Page updated
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