A man representing himself in a New York court left a panel of judges bewildered after he presented his argument with the help of an AI-generated person.
Jerome Dewald, 74, went to the court against a ruling that didn't go in his favour. Despite not being a lawyer, Mr Dewald decided to fight his case on his own. To support his argument, he showed a pre-recorded video in the court, The NY Times reported.
"The appellant has submitted a video for his argument," said Justice Sallie Manzanet-Daniels. "Ok. We will hear that video now."
When the video started, it showed a man, dressed in a blue collared shirt and a beige sweater, younger than Mr Dewald. The judges seemed perplexed for a few seconds before asking him if the person in the video was his lawyer.
World's First AI Lawyer, Gets UnPlugged In Live Court Setting.
— Brian Roemmele (@BrianRoemmele) April 10, 2025
In late March 2025, a New York appeals ourt encountered an unusual situation during a hearing or an employment dispute.
Jerome Dewald, a 74-year-old etiree representing himself in the lawsuit, had sought ermission… pic.twitter.com/E6RDmH5VOF
She said, "Ok, hold on. Is that counsel for the case?"
Mr Dewald, sitting with his legs crossed and his hands folded in his lap, said it was a digital avatar created using artificial intelligence (AI). He said, "I generated that. That is not a real person."
Frustrated by his answer, Justice Sallie Manzanet-Daniels demanded the video be turned off. She yelled at him and said, "It would have been nice to know that when you made your application. I don't appreciate being misled."
Later, Mr Dewald wrote a letter of apology to the court, claiming he had no intent to harm anyone. He said he had to make his own legal arguments because he was not represented by an attorney in the case.
He thought the AI avatar could speak more clearly than he could because when he talks, he sometimes mumbles, stumbles, or mixes up his words.
He said he intended to create a digital replica of himself but ran into "technical difficulties".
In his letter to the judges, he wrote, "My intent was never to deceive but rather to present my arguments in the most efficient manner possible." He added, "However, I recognize that proper disclosure and transparency must always take precedence."
This wasn't the first time AI somehow got involved in legal proceedings. In June 2023, two lawyers used the AI tool ChatGPT to help them do legal research for a case. The AI gave them fake legal cases. As a result, a federal judge in New York fined each lawyer and their law firm $5,000.
