A judge berated lawyers representing conspiracy theorist and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell in a court order, accusing them of filing a court document that used artificial intelligence and contained a number of “fundamental errors.”
Lindell is being sued by former Dominion Voting Services employee Dr. Eric Coomer, who accused the CEO, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, of making false remarks about him on a conservative Colorado podcast.
Coomer’s lawsuit has been going on since 2022, and in February, Lindell’s lawyers filed an opposition brief. The document contained “nearly thirty defective citations,”Colorado District Judge Nina Y. Wang said in a court order filed Wednesday. She noted a number of “fundamental errors” in the brief, including citing cases that do not exist.
Lindell’s attorney Christopher I. Kachouroff admitted at a Monday hearing that he used generative artificial intelligence in the error-filled document.
Mike Lindell’s lawyers were lambasted by a judge who accused them of submitting an error-filled document that they drafted using artificial intelligence. AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Wang ordered Lindell’s attorneys to “show cause” as to why the court should not sanction Lindell and his companies. She also ordered his attorneys to justify why the court should not refer them to disciplinary proceedings.
Kachouroff responded to Wang’s order on Friday in a motion obtained by HuffPost, saying “there is nothing wrong with using AI when used properly.” He also claimed that the brief his team filed was not the final copy, but a previous draft submitted “mistakenly.”
The lawyer also described being questioned in court about the document.
“The Court concluded by grilling me on whether the document was generated by AI,” he wrote. “I freely admitted that I used AI because it is a very helpful tool when used properly.”
The defense team’s response stated that Kachouroff was out of the country with poor internet service at the time he reviewed the brief with his co-counsel Jennifer T. DeMaster over the phone. DeMaster had used a legal research AI tool to analyze the brief to find and add other cases to help bolster their argument.
Kachouroff said he “routinely” uses AI tools to analyze his arguments, as well as his opposing counsel’s arguments, but does not rely on them.
“Regardless of whether I use AI in a particular pleading, I always conduct verification of citations before filing,” Kachouroff said.
He said in his response that he was “taken completely off guard” when being questioned in court about the brief because he was unaware the court had a different copy. Kachouroff argued he should have been given advance notice to properly explain the filing.
“I cannot adequately convey my shock and extreme embarrassment by trying to review an unfamiliar 17-page document while trying to answer the Court’s rapid examination,” he wrote.