So, imagine this — you’re facing eviction, broke, scared, and your court-appointed lawyer just lost your case. What do you do?
Well, if you’re Lynn White from Long Beach, California, you don’t hire another lawyer… you hire ChatGPT.
Yep, that ChatGPT — the same one people use to write dating profiles and meal plans — is now helping folks win real legal battles.
Lynn couldn’t afford a new attorney, so she went all-in with AI. She fed ChatGPT her judge’s rulings, asked it to dig up case law, even had it help her write an appeal. And get this — she actually won.
She overturned her eviction notice and dodged more than $70,000 in penalties and rent.
Her words?
“It was like having God up there responding to my questions.”
Okay, dramatic — but also kind of iconic.
And Lynn’s not the only one.
There’s Richard Hoffmann, a 42-year-old New Yorker who used ChatGPT to strategize a civil case against his former employer. According to him the AI did in five days what would’ve taken lawyers months.
Now, AI companies will tell you not to rely on these tools for serious legal advice, but… the results are hard to ignore.
OpenAI’s GPT-4 literally passed the bar exam in 2023 with flying colors. A Stanford study found that 3 out of 4 lawyers plan to use AI in their practice.
Even court systems are getting in on it — Alaska is developing an AI assistant to help people represent themselves, and nonprofits like Public Counsel are holding workshops on how to do exactly what Lynn and Richard did — but smarter and safer.
But hey — before you grab your phone and type “ChatGPT, defend me in court,” here’s the twist:
AI still hallucinates. And not the fun kind.
Last month, a California attorney got slapped with a $10,000 fine after ChatGPT invented 21 fake legal citations.
Two lawyers for MyPillow’s Mike Lindell were fined $3,000 each for filing a brief full of imaginary cases.
A Thomson Reuters Institute study found dozens of similar incidents — from fabricated quotes to completely made-up cases.
In one wild example, a defendant in a dispute between a family and a school board submitted pleadings with 42 non-existent legal authorities.
I mean, you can’t make this stuff up — except, well… AI did.
So yeah — AI can help you win, but it can also make you look really dumb in front of a judge.
Still, love it or hate it, this moment feels like a turning point. A point where AI isn’t just changing how we write essays or emails anymore — it’s changing who gets to win in court.
If you ask me, it looks like the courtroom just got its first real tech upgrade. And it’s not a new gavel — it’s a chatbot.
So next time you hear someone say, “I’ll see you in court,” maybe ask them: “ Are you bringing a lawyer… or ChatGPT?”
Want to see how deep this goes?
