A south Alabama attorney was this week publicly reprimanded by a federal judge for using fake legal citations in a criminal case.

The order said lawyer James A. Johnson utilized Microsoft Word plug-in Ghostwriter Legal , a program that uses ChatGPT, in the drafting of a motion which contained fabricated citations that he failed to check prior to submitting the motion to the court.

“The improper use of generative AI is a problem that sadly is not going away despite the general knowledge in the legal community that AI can hallucinate and make up cases, ” wrote U.S. District Judge Terry Moorer on Friday.

“Somehow the message still has not been hammered home as the epidemic of citing fake cases continues unabated.”

Johnson was publicly reprimanded, kicked off the case by his client a

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