ChatGPT invents UK capital gains tax legal cases

A UK legal tribunal ruled that an appellant unknowingly submitted nine fictitious legal cases generated by an AI system to support her appeal against a capital gains tax penalty. What happened Felicity Harber used a generative AI system - considered likely to have been ChatGPT - to support her legal case, according to the First-tier Tribunal. The Tribunal determined that all nine cited cases cited by Harber had been fabricated and lacked any presence in legitimate legal databases. The citations exhibited characteristics typical of AI-generated content, such as American English spelling and repetitive phrases. Why it happened J udge Anne Redston acknowledged that Harber was unaware of the fakeness of the cases and did not know how to verify their authenticity. Despite this, her appeal was dismissed on the grounds that her mental health condition did not prevent her from seeking tax advice or contacting HMRC. Harber received a penalty of GBP 3,265 for failing to notify HMRC of her liability after selling a property. What it means Despite Ms Harber's claim that her use of fake citations " did not matter ", t h e case highlights the implications of presenting non-existent cases in court, resulting in wasted time and resources, potentially undermin ing judicial precedents and fostering cynicism and distrust in the legal process. System 🤖 ChatGPT Developer: OpenAI Country: UK Sector: Business/professional services Purpose: Generate text Technology: Generative AI Issue: Accountability; Accuracy/reliability Legal, regulatory 👩🏼‍⚖️ Felicity Harber v HMRC

Date it happened

2023-12-01

Organisation involved

Felicity Harber

Product, system or model

ChatGPT

This is a record of what was reported, not a finding that anyone broke the law. If it names your organisation and you believe it is wrong, the corrections process is free and open to everyone.