As AI-generated fake content mars legal cases, states want guardrails

By: Madyson Fitzgerald

Outlets: Stateline

Published: January 26, 2026

Words: 1,613

Last Updated: 1 week, 5 days ago

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Last spring, Illinois county judge Jeffrey Goffinet noticed something startling: A legal brief filed in his courtroom cited a case that did not exist.

Goffinet, an associate judge in Williamson County, looked through two legal research systems and then headed to the courthouse library — a place he hadn’t visited in years — to consult the book that purportedly listed the case. The case wasn’t in it.

The fake case, generated by artificial intelligence, came …

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