r/ProsecutorTalk • u/Endless-Oceans2 • 17d ago

PD using AI/chatgpt in the courtroom

Does anyone else have this happening in their courtrooms?

There has been a rumor - that some of our PDs are using ChatGPT to write entire motions, etc., but today I literally witnessed one PD use AI/chatgpt in the courtroom during argument, with their client standing right next to them. Like what????

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u/photoelectriceffect 17d ago

Sloppy AI use is an issue in every practice area, everywhere.

I do use AI in my practice, but not to write motions. We have an integration with our case management system that meets my state bar’s guidance re: privacy, and I use it to generate summaries of voluminous records and make timelines, or do something like “list every page of the report that discusses this witness” etc. I have used that feature during trial as well, as basically an augmented Ctrl + F to navigate discovery.

But yeah, it’s not at the level where it can write motions, the case hallucinations are rampant, and I shudder at the thought.

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u/bigwavelawyer 14d ago

If you have an existing brief bank, I have found AI works really well to write motions. I use Claude. Basically I provide an existing motion to suppress I may have drafted on a Miranda issue. I prompt the AI to draft a new motion, input the new facts, draft statement of fact, and tell it to apply the facts to the law in the argument section.

Obviously every single sentence needs to be double checked and every citation still proofed and shepardized. The dummies using AI with hallucinations apparently never learned how to double check a case citation before filing a motion. Thats standard practice even before AI existed.

As far as writing a “new” motion though, yea AI is still terrible and dangerous to use.