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ARTICLE · 11 OCTOBER 2023

Digital Delusions: Libel Lawsuit Based On Alleged ChatGPT "Hallucination"

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We've all heard about so-called AI "hallucinations," when AI programs like ChatGPT make up "facts" that are not true. For example, lawyers have gotten in trouble for citing...

United StatesLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Lauren Gregory Leipold
Lauren Gregory Leipold
Owen Wolfe
Owen Wolfe
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We've all heard about so-called AI "hallucinations," when AI programs like ChatGPT make up "facts" that are not true. For example, lawyers have gotten in trouble for citing fake AI-generated court cases, as we wrote about here and here. But could the creator of the AI platform itself also be held accountable?

Conservative radio host Mark Walters thinks so. Walters has sued ChatGPT's creator, OpenAI, for libel in Georgia based on an alleged ChatGPT hallucination. At issue in the case—which appears to be the first of its kind—is whether ChatGPT's output is a "publication" sufficient to support a libel claim. For now, though, the case is mired in a procedural dispute that will likely delay any substantive ruling.

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