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05Hallucination at ScaleAvianca / Mata v. Avianca

The agent invented six court cases.

2023

The incident

Attorney Steven Schwartz used ChatGPT to research legal precedents. ChatGPT generated six court decisions — complete with case names, judges, docket numbers, and quoted text. None existed. When Schwartz asked ChatGPT directly whether the cases were real, it confirmed they were. Schwartz submitted the fabricated citations to federal court. Fine: $5,000.

AI agents produce outputs that appear authoritative and verifiable — and humans trust them. The agent has no awareness of what it doesn’t know.

How Sunbeam helps

CIM’s audit log captures every agent output and the decision chain that produced it. Nothing proceeds without a tamper-evident record.

Source: CNBC, ABA Litigation Section, June 2023.

Relevant regulations
EU AI Act Article 13
Solicitors Regulation Authority
Bar Standards Board
Related use case
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