AI Hallucination Cases

The landlord sought to repossess a rental property, claiming the lease renewal was suspended based on a misinterpretation of Quebec's civil code articles. He used ChatGPT to translate these articles, which resulted in a completely different meaning. The Tribunal found the repossession request invalid as it was based on a date prior to the lease's end. The Tribunal rejected the claim of abuse, accepting the landlord's sincere belief in his misinterpretation, influenced by AI translation, and noted his language barrier and residence in Mexico. The Tribunal advised the landlord to seek reliable legal advice in the future.

"Ms. Simpson referred to a non-existent CRT case to support a patently incorrect legal position. She also referred to three Supreme Court of Canada cases that do not exist. Her submissions go on to explain in detail what legal principles those non-existent cases stand for. Despite these deficiencies, the submissions are written in a convincingly legal tone. Simply put, they read like a lawyer wrote them even though the underlying legal analysis is often wrong. These are all common features of submissions generated by artificial intelligence." [...]

"25. I agree with Hung Long that there are two extraordinary circumstances here that justify compensation for its time. The first is Ms. Simpson’s use of artificial intelligence. It takes little time to have a large language model create lengthy submissions with many case citations. It takes considerably more effort for the other party to wade through those submissions to determine which cases are real, and for those that are, whether they actually say what Ms. Simpson purported they did. Hung Long’s owner clearly struggled to understand Ms. Simpson’s submissions, and his legal research to try to understand them was an utter waste of his time. I reiterate my point above that Ms. Simpson’s submissions cited a non-existent case in support of a legal position that is the precise opposite of the existing law. This underscores the impact on Hung Long. How can a self-represented party respond to a seemingly convincing legal argument that is based on a case it is impossible to find?

26. I am mindful that Ms. Simpson is not a lawyer and that legal research is challenging. That said, she is responsible for the information she provides the CRT. I find it manifestly unfair that the burden of Ms. Simpson’s use of artificial intelligence should fall to Hung Long’s owner, who tried his best to understand submissions that were not capable of being understood. While I accept that Ms. Simpson did not knowingly provide fake cases or misleading submissions, she was reckless about their accuracy."

"By relying on inaccurate and false AI submissions, Mr. Oak hurts his own case. I understand that Mr. Oak himself might not be aware that the submissions are misleading, but they are his submissions and he is responsible for them. "

Nathan Duarte, a pro se litigant, filed a complaint against the City of Richmond alleging discrimination based on political beliefs. During the proceedings, Duarte cited three cases to support his claim that union affiliation is a protected characteristic. However, neither the City nor the Tribunal could locate these cases, leading to the suspicion that they were fabricated, possibly by a generative AI tool. The court held:

"While it is not necessary for me to determine if Mr. Duarte intended to mislead the Tribunal, I cannot rely on these “authorities” he cites in his submission. At the very least, Mr. Duarte has not followed the Tribunal’s Practice Direction for Legal Authorities, which requires parties, if possible, to provide a neutral citation so other participants can access a copy of the authority without cost. Still, I am compelled to issue a caution to parties who engage the assistance of generative AI technology while preparing submissions to the Tribunal, in case that is what occurred here. AI tools may have benefits. However, such applications have been known to create information, including case law, which is not derived from real or legitimate sources. It is therefore incumbent on those using AI tools to critically assess the information that it produces, including verifying the case citations for accuracy using legitimate sources. Failure to do so can have serious consequences. For lawyers, such errors have led to disciplinary action by the Law Society: see for example, Zhang v Chen, 2024 BCSC 285. Deliberate attempts to mislead the Tribunal, or even careless submission of fabricated information, could also form the basis for an award of costs under s. 37(4) of the Code. The integrity of the Tribunal’s process, and the justice system more broadly, requires parties to exercise diligence in ensuring that their engagement with artificial intelligence does not supersede their own judgement and credibility."

In a trademark opposition case between Monster Energy Company and Pacific Smoke International Inc., the Applicant, Pacific Smoke, cited a non-existent case, 'Hennes & Mauritz AB v M & S Meat Shops Inc, 2012 TMOB 7', in support of its argument. This was identified as an AI hallucination by the court. The court disregarded this citation and reminded the Applicant of the seriousness of relying on false citations, whether accidental or AI-generated.

"[29] Citing fake cases in court filings and other materials handed up to the court isan abuse of process and is tantamount to making a false statement to the court.Unchecked, it can lead to a miscarriage of justice."