A Colorado lawyer has been suspended for a year for using an AI chatbot to draft a legal document.
A judge ordered Zachariah Crabill to a one year and one day suspension after Crabill allegedly "cited case law that he found through the artificial intelligence platform ChatGPT" to to draft a motion in a civil case in May. The platform them produced cases that were incorrect and fictitious.
Crabill allegedly did not alert the court to the existence of the incorrect cases after he filed the motion. He also did not withdraw the motion.
A ruling handed down notes that when the judge asked Crabill about possible inaccuracies, Crabill attributed the mistakes to a legal intern. Six days after the hearing, he filed an affidavit explaining that he used the platform when he drafted the motion.
The presiding judge noted that Crabill violated several of the Colorado Bar Association's Rules of Professional Conduct. If he successfully completes a 90-day suspension and two subsequent years of probation, the rest of the year suspension will be forgiven.