Expert Witness Used ChatGPT to Write Report Defending 3M in Explosion Death Case

An expert witness preparing testimony in a product liability case about a 3M explosion submitted a report generated by ChatGPT with a prompt that requested a specific conclusion. The AI generated that conclusion with supporting argumentation. The report was filed in court as expert analysis. The witness's name remained on the document.

This follows the pattern where tools that produce confident-sounding text get used as time-savers by people who are responsible for what that text claims. The responsibility does not transfer to the tool. The tool does not understand responsibility. The person submitting does. Or should. The court has been told the report exists and was AI-generated and that the conclusion was pre-selected. Further action is now in the court's column.

The case continues. The family of the person who died in the explosion now has additional legal friction to work through while 3M's defense gets slightly more complex. This is a cost externalized onto the people who have to prove harm in a system that has become slightly more expensive to prove things in.