This Guy Tried to Use an AI Avatar to Argue for Him in Court. It Didn’t Go Well.

It’s one thing for artificial intelligence to perform tasks like writing and researching, but arguing in court? That’s an entirely new level of outsourcing that I was not expecting.

Still, somehow un-shockingly, such was the case in a New York appeals court on March 26, when a panel of judges was waiting to hear from a plaintiff regarding an employment dispute, The Associated Press reported.

At the time, Justice Sallie Manzanet-Daniels had announced that “the appellant has submitted a video for his argument.” But she certainly was not expecting what happened next.

The video featured a seemingly young, well-dressed man who began to address the court.

Plaintiff Uses AI-Generated Avatar to Argue His Case in a New York Court: ‘That’s Not a Real Person’

“May it please the court,” the man in the video started. “I come here today a humble pro se before a panel of five distinguished justices.”

Immediately, Manzanet-Daniels caught on to the AI-generated avatar. 

“Ok, hold on,” she interrupted. “Is that counsel for the case?”

“I generated that,” the plaintiff, Jerome Dewald, confessed. “That’s not a real person.”

Manzanet-Daniels was clearly displeased. 

“It would have been nice to know that when you made your application,” she responded. “You did not tell me that, sir.”

She then demanded that the video be shut off.

“I don’t appreciate being misled,” Manzanet-Daniels told Dewald. 

Dewald then continued his argument without representation. In an apology to the court, he later claimed he intended to have the avatar speak on his behalf, as he had no one to represent him on the case. He’d simply wanted to avoid stumbling over his own words. 

I mean, I understand the fear—no one wants to address a panel of judges with a shaky voice or trembling hands. 

In an interview with The Associated Press, Dewald claimed that he’d applied for permission to play the prerecorded video in court. 

“The court was really upset about it,” Dewald told the outlet. “They chewed me up pretty good.”