A jury just found out what AI is actually for
In a Nutshell
An expert witness hired by 3M to investigate a deadly gas explosion at Watson Grinding used ChatGPT to write a 30-page report explicitly designed to show 3M was "0% at fault," then submitted it to court without reading it. During trial, opposing counsel discovered the AI usage through a "citation overlay" document, forcing the expert to admit under oath that 85-90% of the report was AI-generated, and the jury ultimately awarded $61 million with 30% liability on 3M. The case demonstrates how AI-assisted fraud and professional laziness can backfire catastrophically when exposed in legal proceedings.
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There's a guy sitting in Houston traffic with his phone out and he's typing a sentence into ChatGPT that three people died for. Show how 3M is 0% at fault for the explosion at Watson Grinding. So, yeah. There was this gas explosion. It killed three people and destroyed hundreds of homes. And there was a huge lawsuit. And suspected is the gas detectors that 3M was supposed to be maintaining.
3M hires this expert from an engineering firm called Nighthawk Engineering, who they're paying $90,000, and they want him to produce a report to find out who's really liable. Now, obviously, 3M hiring this firm means they want a report that says they're not liable. But no one ever says these words, of course, because this is serious business. And in serious business, you don't have to say the obvious. You just sort of wink, and everyone gets it. But you can't wink at ChatGPT. You can't go, "Hey, I've been retained to produce a totally honest, totally factual assessment of whether my client incinerated a neighborhood." It'll come back and be like, "I've reviewed the documents, and I want to be direct with you."
So, this guy, feeling a little lazy like the rest of us, spoiled by AI doing everything, getting paid six figures, opens ChatGPT. And what does he type? Does he use it for research? To audit his investigation? To review the PDF? No. He types the wink out loud. He types the thing that has never been written down in the entire history of this profession, and he types it into a box owned by a company in San Francisco that keeps everything forever. He walks up to the counter, and he's like, "Yeah, let me get an innocent, no-fault, extra exonerated, what's that? Yeah, to go, yes." He tells it, and I quote, "Show how 3M is 0% at fault for the explosion at Watson Grinding, and how my background and experience is well suited to render this professional opinion."
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