Stanford Prof. Uses AI in Expert Witness Statement
Article he cites does not exist
A leading misinformation expert is being accused of citing non-existent sources to defend Minnesota’s new law banning election misinformation.
Professor Jeff Hancock from the Stanford Social Media Lab submitted a legal argument in support of a Minnesota deepfake bill, but it reportedly includes citations made up by AI. (PC Magazine 11/24).
Minnesota has proposed a law that will enforce legal restrictions on using deepfakes around election time. Professor Jeff Hancock, a founding director of the Stanford Social Media Lab, submitted a legal argument in support of the bill, the Minnesota Reformer reports.
Professor Hancock is a well-known name in the field of misinformation. One of his TED talks, “The Future of Lying,” has racked up over 1.5 million views on YouTube, and he also stars in a documentary on misinformation that is available on Netflix. 1
Stanford Professor Allegedly Includes Fake AI Citations in Filing on Deepfake Bill |
Defendant Ellison filed two expert declarations he contends demonstrate Minn. Stat. §609.771 “actually necessary” and counterspeech “insufficient” to address AI-generated deepfakes.
But the Declaration of Prof. Jeff Hancock cites a study that does not exist. No article by the title exists. The publication exists (Journal of Information Technology & Politics), but the cited pages belong to unrelated articles. Likely, the study was a “hallucination” generated by an AI large language model like ChatGPT. A part-fabricated declaration is unreliable.
PLAINTIFFS’ MEMORANDUM OF LAW IN SUPPORT OF DAUBERT MOTION TO EXCLUDE EXPERT DECLARATIONS2
Will McCurdy, Stanford Professor Allegedly Includes Fake AI Citations in Filing on Deepfake Bill | PC Mag. November 24, 2024.
PLAINTIFFS’ MEMORANDUM OF LAW IN SUPPORT OF DAUBERT MOTION TO EXCLUDE EXPERT DECLARATIONS is here: gov.uscourts.mnd.220348.30.0.pdf
Is this the future?