NY State Senate Bill 2023-S9640

Senate Bill S9640

2023-2024 Legislative Session

Relates to requiring disclosure of use of generative artificial intelligence in a civil action

download bill text pdf

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Judiciary Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
May 16, 2024	referred to judiciary

2023-S9640 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Judiciary
Law Section:: Civil Practice Law and Rules
Laws Affected:: Add R2107, amd R5528, CPLR

2023-S9640 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Requires certification of filings produced using generative artificial intelligence; requires the brief of an appellant to contain a disclosure of the use of generative artificial intelligence in the drafting of the brief and certification that the content therein was reviewed and verified by a human.

2023-S9640 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S9640

SPONSOR: HOYLMAN-SIGAL
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to requir-
ing disclosure of use of generative artificial intelligence in a civil
action

 
PURPOSE:

To require litigants to disclose use of generative artificial intelli-
gence in court filings and to attest to the accuracy of such papers

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of the bill amends the civil practice law and rules to add a
new rule 2107 requiring certification of filings produced using genera-
tive artificial intelligence, and provides a definition of generative
artificial intelligence.

Section 2 of the bill amends rule 5528 of the civil practice law and

rules to clarify that filings in appellate courts are also subject to
the disclosure requirements of new rule 2107 of the civil practice law
and rules.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The rise of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools that are
capable of drafting, editing, or creating citations for legal documents
poses risks and opportunities to the legal profession. While this tech-
nology has the potential to advance legal productivity and broaden
access to justice for underserved populations, the use of GenAI by
lawyers to produce court filings raises serious professional, ethical,
and policy concerns around the accuracy and quality of briefings in New
York courts.

GenAI tools are already at work in the legal profession. In June 2023, a
federal judge in the Southern District of New York sanctioned two attor-
neys who had used ChatGPT to write a brief they had submitted to the
court. The brief referenced non-existent cases and included totally
fabricated quotations from false opinions. Another attorney was sanc-
tioned by the Second Circuit in January 2024 (see Park v. Kim, 22-2057
(2d Cir. Jan. 30, 2024)) for not double-checking a brief drafted with
the help of GenAI that contained similar errors.

This trend has prompted judges across the country to establish policies
around the use of GenAI in legal filings. According to Law360, about 16%
of more than 1,600 U.S. district and magistrate judges had issued 23
standing orders on AI as of February 2024. As of May 2024, Ropes and
Gray LLP, which tracks such standing orders, has identified 36 standing
orders from state and federal judges across 13 states requiring attor-
neys to disclose and/or verify briefings filed with the court that were
drafted with the assistance of GenAI. Six such orders were in courtrooms
in New York.

This bill would codify such requirements in the civil practice law and
rules. It would require any attorney who used GenAI to draft legal docu-
ments to disclosure the use of such tools when the document is filed
with the court, and to certify that a human reviewed the filing before
it was submitted.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

This is a new bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Takes effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become law.

2023-S9640 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   9640
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               May 16, 2024
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sen. HOYLMAN-SIGAL -- read twice and ordered printed, and
   when printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary
 
 AN ACT to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to requir-
   ing disclosure of use of generative artificial intelligence in a civil
   action
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. The civil practice law and rules is amended by adding a new
 rule 2107 to read as follows:
   RULE  2107.  (A)  CERTIFICATION  OF  FILINGS PRODUCED USING GENERATIVE
 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. ANY PAPER OR FILE SERVED THAT WAS DRAFTED  WITH
 THE  ASSISTANCE OF GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE MUST ATTACH TO THE
 FILING A SEPARATE AFFIDAVIT DISCLOSING SUCH USE AND  CERTIFYING  THAT  A
 HUMAN BEING HAS REVIEWED THE SOURCE MATERIAL AND VERIFIED THAT THE ARTI-
 FICIALLY GENERATED CONTENT IS ACCURATE.
   (B)  FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION, "GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLI-
 GENCE" SHALL MEAN THE USE  OF  MACHINE  LEARNING  TECHNOLOGY,  SOFTWARE,
 AUTOMATION,  AND  ALGORITHMS  TO  PERFORM  TASKS,  TO  MAKE RULES AND/OR
 PREDICTIONS BASED ON EXISTING DATA SETS AND INSTRUCTIONS, INCLUDING, BUT
 NOT LIMITED TO:
   1. ANY ARTIFICIAL SYSTEM THAT PERFORMS TASKS UNDER VARYING AND  UNPRE-
 DICTABLE  CIRCUMSTANCES WITHOUT SIGNIFICANT HUMAN OVERSIGHT, OR THAT CAN
 LEARN FROM EXPERIENCE AND IMPROVE PERFORMANCE WHEN EXPOSED TO DATA SETS;
   2. AN ARTIFICIAL SYSTEM DEVELOPED IN COMPUTER SOFTWARE, PHYSICAL HARD-
 WARE, OR OTHER CONTEXT THAT SOLVES TASKS  REQUIRING  HUMAN-LIKE  PERCEP-
 TION, COGNITION, PLANNING, LEARNING, COMMUNICATION, OR PHYSICAL ACTION;
   3. AN ARTIFICIAL SYSTEM DESIGNED TO THINK OR ACT LIKE A HUMAN, INCLUD-
 ING COGNITIVE ARCHITECTURES AND NEURAL NETWORKS;
   4.  A  SET OF TECHNIQUES, INCLUDING MACHINE LEARNING, THAT IS DESIGNED
 TO APPROXIMATE A COGNITIVE TASK; AND/OR
   5. AN ARTIFICIAL SYSTEM  DESIGNED  TO  ACT  RATIONALLY,  INCLUDING  AN
 INTELLIGENT  SOFTWARE  AGENT OR EMBODIED ROBOT THAT ACHIEVES GOALS USING
 PERCEPTION,  PLANNING,  REASONING,  LEARNING,  COMMUNICATING,   DECISION
 MAKING, AND ACTING.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD15648-01-4
 S. 9640                             2
 
   (C) WHERE NO GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WAS USED IN THE DRAFT-
 ING OF A PAPER OR FILE, NO DISCLOSURE IS REQUIRED UNDER THIS RULE.
   §  2.  Paragraphs 4 and 5 of subdivision (a) of rule 5528 of the civil
 practice law and rules, paragraph 5 as amended by  chapter  730  of  the
 laws  of  1963,  are  amended  and a new paragraph 6 is added to read as
 follows:
   4. the argument for the appellant, which shall be divided into  points
 by appropriate headings distinctively printed; [and]
   5.  an  appendix,  which may be bound separately, containing only such
 parts of the record on appeal as are necessary to consider the questions
 involved, including those parts the appellant reasonably assumes will be
 relied upon by the respondent; provided,  however,  that  the  appellate
 division  in  each  department  may by rule applicable in the department
 authorize an appellant at [his] THE APPELLANT'S election to proceed upon
 a record on appeal printed or reproduced in like manner as an  appendix,
 and  in the event of such election an appendix shall not be required[.];
 AND
   6. IF REQUIRED BY RULE 2107, A DISCLOSURE OF  THE  USE  OF  GENERATIVE
 ARTIFICIAL  INTELLIGENCE  IN THE DRAFTING OF THE BRIEF AND CERTIFICATION
 THAT THE CONTENT THEREIN WAS REVIEWED AND VERIFIED BY A HUMAN.
   § 3. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day  after  it  shall
 have become a law.

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