Italy's Supreme Court penalizes lawyers using AI-generated fake rulings

The Third Criminal Section of the Italian Court of Cassation has established increased financial penalties for lawyers who submit legal appeals based on non-existent judicial precedents generated by artificial intelligence. In ruling number 23006, the Court addressed the issue of "computer hallucinations," where AI systems produce syntactically correct but factually false texts.

The Court ruled that the use of advanced software does not exempt legal professionals from human responsibility. Presenting fictitious jurisprudence is classified as a serious professional negligence that disrupts the adversarial process and hinders the judges' ability to conduct legitimacy examinations. Under Article 616 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, while standard fines apply to inadmissible appeals, the Court has introduced an increased sanction for "qualified fault" when a lawyer relies blindly on AI-generated falsehoods.