Lawyers Apologize After Fake Claude-Generated Quotes Appear in Trump Layoffs Case

In brief

• Lawyers in a federal layoffs case apologized after AI-generated “phantom quotations” appeared in a court filing.
• Attorney Jason Greaves said he used Anthropic’s Claude Console under “tight time constraints.”
• The filing stemmed from a subpoena dispute connected to FEMA layoffs challenged in federal court.

A federal court fight over Donald Trump administration layoffs has become the latest example of AI hallucinations entering the courtroom after attorneys admitted submitting fabricated quotations generated by artificial intelligence. In a declaration filed on Friday, attorney Jason Greaves admitted the filing included fake quotations generated after he used Anthropic’s Claude Console to help prepare the motion. “Given the tight time constraints I used an enterprise level, data-isolated AI platform, Claude Console, to create an initial draft of the motion. That was a mistake,” Greaves wrote. “The morning of May 6, I sent the draft to an associate attorney, along with explicit, oral instructions that the draft had come from AI, and I needed the citations to be carefully checked. That afternoon, the associate informed me that she had reviewed and verified each citation.”

According to Greaves, the associate noted that two cases cited were incorrect, but that she had found a different case to cite.  “As the supervising partner, and the signer of the pleading, the responsibility for having accurate citations is entirely on me,” Greaves added. “I take full responsibility for that and apologize fully to the court and to all counsel in this case, for the phantom quotations that appeared in the motion. I have also personally apologized to the Plaintiffs’ attorneys.” Launched in March 2023 as the Anthropic Developer Console, Claude Console is Anthropic’s enterprise platform for interacting with its Claude AI models, which businesses and professionals use for drafting, summarizing documents, coding, and research.

The case adds to a growing list of AI-related courtroom disputes. In April, lawyers with the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell were sanctioned after submitting fake legal citations generated by artificial intelligence. This latest AI hallucination controversy stems from lawsuits filed against the Trump administration over mass federal layoffs and proposed changes to civil service protections. The litigation includes disputes tied to FEMA staffing cuts and testimony from former Homeland Security official Joseph Guy, whose lawyers filed the motion. “While the cases cited may have generally supported our position, I acknowledge the inexcusable error of allowing the inclusion of phantom quotations,” Greaves wrote.