from
Getty)
Assistant
US
attorney
Rudy
Renfer
recently
came
under
fire
for
a
series
of
blunders.
Not
only
did
he
manage
to
file
a
response
that
was
replete
with
AI-generated
quotes
and
faulty
case
holdings,
a
judge
held
that
he
made
false
or
misleading
statements
about
how
they
got
in
there.
The
shoddy
work,
followed
by
a
shoddy
attempt
to
cover
up
the
shoddy
work,
was
so
egregious
that
Renfer
was
taxed
with
explaining
not
only
why
he
shouldn’t
be
sanctioned,
but
why
his
entire
office
shouldn’t
be
held
jointly
responsible.
To
think
the
psychological
torment
of
picking
your
own
switch
ended
with
childhood.
Rather
than
prepare
a
defense
for
why
he
and
his
cohort
shouldn’t
be
punished
for
his
mistakes,
Renfer
opted
to
resign
instead.
Bloomberg
Law
has
coverage:
An
assistant
US
attorney
in
North
Carolina
said
he’s
resigning
over
AI-created
fabricated
quotes
and
erroneous
citations
in
an
AI-produced
court
brief.Assistant
US
attorney
Rudy
Renfer
said
he’s
made
“a
personal
decision
to
separate
from
the
office”
of
the
US
attorney
for
the
Eastern
District
of
North
Carolina
during
a
Tuesday
afternoon
show-cause
hearing.
Magistrate
Judge
Robert
Numbers
chastised
Renfer’s
“disappointing”
conduct,
including
for
a
lack
of
candor
in
accounting
for
the
errors
when
it
was
discovered.
The
most
refreshing
thing
about
all
of
this
is
Judge
Numbers’s
candor
in
pointing
out
how
dumb
it
was
to
damage
your
career
over
fast
and
foolhearted
AI
use:
[N]umbers
said
that
Renfer
taking
“shortcuts”
on
“basic
work”
made
it
“all
the
more
outrageous.”
He
added
that
filings
by
Renfer
he
reviewed—beyond
the
AI
brief
and
his
explanation—added
“grave
concerns”
over
what
was,
at
best,
“sloppiness.”“I
don’t
think
it’s
helpful.
It’s
hurtful
to
your
cause,”
Numbers
said.
He
also
pushed
back
on
Renfer’s
characterization
that
his
error
wasn’t
intentional,
saying,
“it
sounds
like
you
intentionally
used
AI,
and
intentionally
filed
it
to
the
court.”
That’s
the
sort
of
telling
it
like
it
is
we
need
to
see
more
of!
None
of
this
fashionable
shifting
blame
onto
machine
“hallucinations.”
Refner
does
blame
some
of
the
incentive
on
using
AI
on
things
that
may
have
been
a
little
out
of
his
control
like
putting
to
much
work
on
himself
at
one
time
and
accidentally
overwriting
a
previous
version
of
the
filing,
but
that
doesn’t
give
you
license
to
make
stuff
up
along
the
way.
A
few
take
away
reminders.
Using
AI
does
not
replace
good
lawyering.
If
you
cite
to
cases,
make
sure
they
say
what
you
say
they
do.
And
while
we’re
here,
remember
to
brush
your
damned
teeth
—
AI
can’t
do
that
for
you
yet
either.
DOJ
Lawyer
Quits
Before
Judicial
Scolding
for
AI
Brief
Error
(1)
[Bloomberg
Law]
Chris
Williams
became
a
social
media
manager
and
assistant
editor
for
Above
the
Law
in
June
2021.
Prior
to
joining
the
staff,
he
moonlighted
as
a
minor
Memelord™
in
the
Facebook
group Law
School
Memes
for
Edgy
T14s
.
He
endured
Missouri
long
enough
to
graduate
from
Washington
University
in
St.
Louis
School
of
Law.
He
is
a
former
boat
builder
who
is
learning
to
swim
and
is
interested
in
rhetoric,
Spinozists
and
humor.
Getting
back
in
to
cycling
wouldn’t
hurt
either.
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at [email protected]
and
by
tweet
at @WritesForRent.