AI incident #1645 ·
3M-Retained Expert Reportedly Submitted Largely ChatGPT-Generated Analysis Seeking to Exonerate 3M as Expert Evidence in Explosion Lawsuit
What happened
3M-retained expert Josh Autenrieth reportedly submitted an expert report substantially generated with ChatGPT after prompting it to show 3M was "0% at fault" for a 2020 Houston industrial explosion that killed three people and destroyed roughly 200 homes. Plaintiffs were thereby presented with purported expert evidence substantially drafted toward a requested conclusion by an AI system, prompting extensive discovery and trial scrutiny.
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News reports (2)
Coverage catalogued by the AI Incident Database. Titles link to the original publisher; the text is not reproduced here.
Who was involved
- Alleged deployer
- Josh Autenrieth, Expert Witnesses, Engineers
- Alleged developer
- Openai, Large Language Model Developers, Chatbot Developers
- Alleged harmed party
- Plaintiffs In Watson Grinding Explosion Litigation, Legal System, Judicial Integrity, Epistemic Integrity, Courts
Classification (MIT AI Risk Repository taxonomy)
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- Risk subdomain
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- Causal entity
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- Intent
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- Timing
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