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Judges call senior CPS prosecutor's excuse 'unsatisfactory' after she cites a non-existent case found using AI in child rape hearing

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.

Ravinder Dhillon, a senior CPS prosecutor in the rape and serious sexual offences unit, submitted a wholly invented 2024 ruling — CPS v R v J [2024] EWCA Crim 3529 — during a High Court judicial review over whether an 11-year-old boy should be prosecuted for raping his seven-year-old sister. Lord Justice Holgate and Mr Justice Wall found the error had no effect on the outcome, but called her explanation of how the citation ended up in her written submissions 'unsatisfactory'. An AI and law expert described the episode as 'a serious failure', warning that AI hallucinations have the potential to 'change the course of a person's life'.

This is the second AI hallucination by the CPS known to have come before a court — the first surfaced in February during an extradition case involving two Romanians.

A lawyer who tracks AI-related court errors says the UK register has reached 101 confirmed, likely or disputed entries since this case was added.

CPS policy explicitly bars AI from informing legal decisions and mandates human review of any AI-generated output — yet the fabricated citation passed through without being caught.

MoreThe TelegraphProsecutor cites fake case in court after using AI - The TelegraphDaily Mail NewsSenior CPS prosecutor accidentally references non-existent case after using AI during child rape High Court hearingua.newsCPS prosecutor cited non-existent precedent in High CourtThe Guardian‘A serious failure’: CPS prosecutor cites imaginary case to high court after AI searchwww.techtimes.co.ukA UK Prosecutor Used AI To Find a Court Case That Didn't Exist, Raising Fears Over Legal Accuracy - www.techtimes.co.uk
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