An accused in a New York Court of Appeal was criticized by a judge for having used an avatar of artificial intelligence to represent himself in a recent case.
A New York Court of Appeal faced an unusual situation at the end of March when Jerome Dewald, standing in a dispute on employment, submitted an avatar generated by AI to present its legal arguments via video, a live broadcast of the hearing.
This is the latest example of artificial intelligence tools that make a way in the audience rooms.
A few seconds after the start of the video, judge Sallie Manzanet-Daniels called to stop, asking if the avatar was a lawyer for the case.
“I generated this,” replied Dewald, 74, adding: “It’s not a real person.”
The judge seemed to be unhappy, retorting: “It would have been pleasant to know that when you made your request”, declaring that the defendant had previously appeared in court and had been able to testify verbally in the past.
“I don’t like being misleading,” added the judge.
She asked the accused if he suffered from a disease that prevented him from articulating before adding: “You are not going to use this courtroom as launch for your business”, then shout: “Stop it”, pointing to the video screen.
Call Division, first department flow. Source: YouTube
Dewald apologized later, explaining that he thought that Avatar AI would deliver his arguments more eloquent than he could.
Addressing the Associated Press, Dewald said that he had asked the court for authorization to play a pre -recorded video, then used a technological company in San Francisco to create Avatar AI.
He initially tried to generate a digital replica of himself but was prevented by time constraints before the hearing. “The court was really upset about it,” said Dewald, adding: “They have minced me quite well.”
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AI entering the legal world
The incident highlights growing challenges when AI enters the legal world.
In 2023, a New York lawyer was castigated for quoting false cases generated by Chatgpt in a legal dissertation as part of a prosecution against a Columbian airline.
In March, the Supreme Arizona Court began to use two avatars generated by AI, similar to that that Dewald used in New York, to summarize court decisions for the public.
In September, the Federal Trade Commission American took action against the companies it said that consumers had misleading consumers using AI, including a company that offered an AI lawyer.
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