A man appearing before a New York court got a scolding from a judge after he tried to use an avatar generated by artificial intelligence to argue his case.

The latest bizarre chapter in the awkward arrival of artificial intelligence in the legal world unfolded March 26 under the stained-glass dome of New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division’s First Judicial Department, where a panel of judges was set to hear from Jerome Dewald, a plaintiff in an employment dispute.

On the video screen appeared a smiling, youthful-looking man with a sculpted hairdo, button-down shirt and sweater.

“May it please the court,” the man began. “I come here today a humble pro se before a panel of five distinguished justices.”

“Ok, hold on,” Manzanet-Daniels said. “Is that counsel for the case?”

“I generated that. That’s not a real person,” Dewald answered.

It was, in fact, an avatar generated by artificial intelligence. The judge was not pleased.

  • ianhclark510@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    202·
    21 hours ago

    So we won’t let it argue a case in court, but it can pull the trigger and take a human life, I see no problems here

    • Opinionhaver@feddit.ukEnglish
      51·
      11 hours ago

      He didn’t have a lawyer representing him in the lawsuit, so he had to present his legal arguments himself. And he felt the avatar would be able to deliver the presentation without his own usual mumbling, stumbling and tripping over words.

      This isn’t about LLM arguing in court but an AI simply just doing the talking.

    • TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee
      71·
      18 hours ago

      It can also set economic policy.

      It’s how Fat Ass and his merry band of assholes established the tariff rates.