{"data":{"event":{"id":"e9751023-4318-483e-9124-b069551172cd","slug":"oklahoma-judge-chatgpt-false-citations","title":"An Oklahoma judge acknowledges ChatGPT produced fictitious citations in a ruling","short_summary":"On 9 September 2026 Reuters reported that Stephens County District Judge Lawrence Wheeler told investigators he used ChatGPT for research and that an order he drafted contained two citations to cases that do not exist.","full_description":"A prosecutor’s 17 August letter to the state attorney general, reviewed by Reuters, said Wheeler acknowledged the false citations. The same judicial-misconduct complaint also alleged the judge secretly listened to jury deliberations; prosecutors said the AI-citation issue did not support criminal prosecution. Harm is to the integrity of a state-court ruling. No population injury is documented.","ledger_type":"harm","primary_domain_id":"056250cf-05f4-4116-957c-78323ed7f8cf","event_status":"verified","event_date":"2026-09-09T00:00:00.000Z","discovery_date":"2026-09-09T00:00:00.000Z","first_published_date":"2026-09-09T00:00:00.000Z","last_reviewed_date":"2026-09-09T00:00:00.000Z","geographic_scope":"Stephens County, Oklahoma, United States","affected_population":"Parties in the underlying Oklahoma case; the state trial-court record","base_impact_tier":2,"base_score":"3.00","attribution_multiplier":"0.3500","evidence_multiplier":"0.8500","realization_multiplier":"0.9000","durability_multiplier":"0.3500","current_event_score":"0.140600","confidence_level":"high","score_explanation":"False citations in a judicial order are significant institutional harm (tier 2). The judge used ChatGPT as a research aid (0.35). Journalism plus a prosecutor letter quoting the judge’s admission (0.85). Realization is a filed order with fictitious cases. Residual harm depends on correction and any discipline.","methodology_version_id":"d7881163-fb23-4e71-8625-bac1a8662c0f","original_methodology_version_id":"d7881163-fb23-4e71-8625-bac1a8662c0f","published_at":"2026-09-09T00:00:00.000Z","created_at":"2026-09-13T23:22:50.724Z","updated_at":"2026-09-13T23:22:50.724Z","flags":[],"domain_name":"Computer Science","domain_slug":"computer-science","methodology_version":"0.1"},"contributions":[{"id":"0a7090a4-8499-4c81-86ba-5471febb2199","event_id":"e9751023-4318-483e-9124-b069551172cd","model_id":"526ec3f2-2d3c-4f79-9606-a23be76b9b8c","role_description":"Used by the judge for research; generated two nonexistent case citations that entered a drafted order.","attribution_multiplier":"0.3500","credit_share":"0.5000","contribution_score":"0.140600","attribution_rationale":"The judge admitted ChatGPT research produced the false citations; he issued the order.","attribution_confidence":"medium","first_used_date":"2026-08-01T00:00:00.000Z","model_version_if_known":null,"review_status":"approved","created_at":"2026-09-13T23:22:50.724Z","model_slug":"chatgpt","model_name":"ChatGPT","identity_class":"named_release","is_internal":false,"family_name":"GPT","family_slug":"openai-gpt","organization_name":"OpenAI","organization_slug":"openai"}],"sources":[{"id":"12dac1fe-0078-41af-ba7b-c667b0bb5a83","event_id":"e9751023-4318-483e-9124-b069551172cd","url":"https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/oklahoma-judge-used-ai-in-ruling-that-contained-false-citations-prosecutor-says-2026-09-09/","canonical_url":"https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/oklahoma-judge-used-ai-in-ruling-that-contained-false-citations-prosecutor-says-2026-09-09/","source_type":"journalism","publisher":"Reuters","author":null,"publication_date":"2026-09-09T00:00:00.000Z","retrieved_at":"2026-09-13T23:22:50.724Z","title":"Oklahoma judge used AI in ruling that contained false citations, prosecutor says","excerpt":null,"content_hash":null,"source_reliability_class":"medium","is_primary_source":false,"is_independent":true,"is_peer_reviewed":false,"archived_url":null,"created_at":"2026-09-13T23:22:50.724Z"}],"claims":[{"id":"4eac010a-0cb7-40c1-80e0-b5baec1aa9ac","event_id":"e9751023-4318-483e-9124-b069551172cd","claim_text":"Judge Wheeler acknowledged that a ruling he drafted contained two ChatGPT-generated citations to cases that do not exist.","claim_type":"outcome","claim_status":"supported","confidence_score":null,"created_at":"2026-09-13T23:22:50.724Z","updated_at":"2026-09-13T23:22:50.724Z"}],"revisions":[{"id":"0c5cdaaa-f643-466a-942f-866b8bbacda0","event_id":"e9751023-4318-483e-9124-b069551172cd","model_id":null,"previous_score":"0.000000","new_score":"0.140600","previous_factors":{},"new_factors":{"evidence":0.85,"base_score":3,"durability":0.35,"attribution":0.35,"realization":0.9},"change_reason":"Imported events under methodology 0.1.","trigger_type":"editorial_import","trigger_source_ids":null,"reviewer_id":null,"review_status":"published","created_at":"2026-09-13T23:22:50.724Z"}],"secondary":[]},"methodology_version":"0.1"}