New York judge shuts down use of AI avatar to argue case in court
NEW YORK (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - A judge shut down an attempt to use an AI-generated video to present an argument in a lawsuit at a New York Court on March 26.
The panel of the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division's First Judicial Department was set to hear from Jerome Dewald, a plaintiff in an employment dispute, before being told that the appellant had submitted a video for his argument.
A man then appears on the video screen, in a shirt and sweater. "May it please the court," the man began. "I come here today a humble pro se before a panel of five distinguished justices."
Justice Sallie Manzanet-Daniels then puts a hold on proceedings. "Is that counsel for the case?" she is heard asking.
"I generated that. That's not a real person," Dewald answers.
"It would have been nice to know that when you made your application. You did not tell me that, sir," Manzanet-Daniels said before yelling across the room for the video to be shut off.
"I don't appreciate being misled," the judge says in a dressing down of Dewald, before allowing him to make his argument himself.
Dewald told the Associated Press that he had applied to the court for permission to play a pre-recorded video. He said he used a product created by a San Francisco tech company to create the avatar.
Originally, Dewald said that he tried to generate a digital replica that looked like him, but he was unable to accomplish that before the hearing.
He later penned an apology to the court, saying he hadn't intended any harm. The avatar, he said, would have been able to deliver the presentation without his own usual mumbling, stumbling and tripping over words.
