Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A committee advising the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is considering requiring court filers to certify that they checked AI-generated material for accuracy. The proposal would cover lawyers and people representing themselves, extending to everyone submitting court documents. The required review would encompass legal citations, quotations and summaries of legal principles produced by AI. According to the report, the proposal envisages sanctions for noncompliance ranging from reprimands and fines to dismissal of a case. The Advisory Committee on Artificial Intelligence warns that generative AI can supply false or misleading material. The proposed requirements remain under consideration and have not been adopted.

Public comments are invited until November 24, after which the committee may revise the proposal or submit it unchanged to the Supreme Court. The court’s seven justices would then decide whether to adopt the proposal. The Pennsylvania Bar Association has not taken a position, although its joint 2024 opinion with the Philadelphia Bar Association advised lawyers to check AI-generated content. A separate interim AI policy adopted in 2025 permits judges and court staff to use AI for research, initial drafting and certain editing tasks; that policy remains in effect and excludes lawyers and others outside government. The report also describes sanctions imposed by a federal judge in Mississippi over AI-assisted filings containing fabricated citations, including two-year appearance bans for two lawyers in that federal district court. Spotlight PA previously reported confirmed or suspected AI hallucinations in filings across at least 13 Pennsylvania court cases in 2025.