Overview
- Letters released by Sen. Chuck Grassley show Judge Julien Xavier Neals and Judge Henry T. Wingate acknowledged that an intern used ChatGPT and a law clerk used Perplexity in preparing draft orders.
- The drafts were posted before standard review, then withdrawn after errors surfaced, including misquoted state law, references to nonparties, and misattributed quotes or citations.
- Neals now has a written policy barring clerks and interns from using generative AI for research or drafting and has implemented a multi-level review process for opinions.
- Wingate requires a second independent review of all drafts and mandates that cited cases be printed from Westlaw and attached to final drafts, noting no sensitive data was entered into AI tools.
- Administrative Office Director Judge Robert J. Conrad said a judiciary AI task force issued July 31 interim guidance allowing cautious experimentation with verification and warned against delegating core judicial functions, as Grassley presses for stronger, permanent safeguards.