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Senior CPS prosecutor cites an imaginary legal case to the High Court after relying on an AI internet search

The CPS admitted a second AI hallucination failure inside a year, after already concluding in February that "the risk of recurrence was low.
The CPS admitted a second AI hallucination failure inside a year, after already concluding in February that "the risk of recurrence was low.

Senior crown prosecutor Ravinder Dhillon submitted a non-existent case — CPS v R v J [2024] EWCA Crim 3529 — to the High Court while arguing for the prosecution of an 11-year-old boy accused of raping his seven-year-old sister. Her explanation of the error drew the description "unsatisfactory" from two senior High Court judges, and an AI and law expert called it "a serious failure."

The fabricated precedent is thought to have its origins in an AI-generated summary that appeared during a routine internet search.

Dhillon admitted the mistake in October, stating she had intended to cite an actual ruling from 15 years ago — an account the judges found inadequate.

The CPS has now faced this embarrassment twice: in February it acknowledged that a lawyer in an extradition case had similarly relied on non-existent authorities, having concluded at the time that "the risk of recurrence was low."

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