En Ngopitekno – In a recent twist in the ongoing legal battle between Craig Wright and the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), new accusations have emerged alleging that Wright used AI, specifically ChatGPT court filing, to draft court submissions that contain fake Bitcoin code and fabricated information.
The court filing, updated as of last Friday and shared by law firm Bird & Bird on behalf of COPA, claims that the document includes “hallucinated” outputs from ChatGPT, as well as invalid links presented as evidence in support of Wright’s appeal.
Wright, a computer scientist and self-proclaimed inventor of Bitcoin, has been involved in multiple high-profile lawsuits within the cryptocurrency space, often centered around claims that he is Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin’s elusive creator.
The new allegations suggest that in preparing his legal documents, Wright incorporated content generated by AI tools such as ChatGPT, leading to accusations of misleading the court.
The dispute was initially ignited by Wright’s claims against Square Up, a financial services company owned by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, and BTC Core, a well-known Bitcoin development group.
According to COPA’s legal team, Wright violated a court order by filing a new lawsuit and by removing previously posted online statements, actions that COPA argues show contempt for the court.
In a formal affidavit, Bird & Bird, COPA’s legal representation, states, “Since Dr. Wright began corresponding on his own behalf, we quickly noticed that his documents appeared to be written in a style characteristic of ChatGPT.”
This suspicion was reportedly confirmed when Wright accidentally included not only the output from ChatGPT but also the prompt he used to generate it.
The affidavit includes evidence indicating that Wright may have improperly used ChatGPT to draft technical explanations and code, which were then presented as legitimate Bitcoin code in the court documents.
Mark Hunter, co-host of the Dr. Bitcoin podcast, drew attention to the issue by sharing screenshots of emails containing AI-generated text, raising concerns about Wright’s use of AI to substantiate his claims in court.
Further fueling these suspicions, sixteen hyperlinks embedded within Wright’s appeal, ostensibly meant to reference credible sources from CoinDesk, The Block, BitMEX research, and other reputable crypto publications, were found to be non-functional or completely fabricated.
One Reddit user, known as StealthyExcellent, scrutinized Wright’s appeal and alleged that these broken links were “not just missing; they appear to have been entirely fabricated by Craig, or more likely, hallucinated by his ChatGPT bot.”
Wright’s appeal also reportedly includes examples of Bitcoin code that experts claim is fictitious. The code, ostensibly added to support technical arguments, is said to contain flaws and inaccuracies that point to its generation by an AI model rather than any authentic Bitcoin development or coding process.
Legal representatives for COPA have stated that this is not the first time they suspect Wright has relied on ChatGPT to create documents for high-stakes court cases.
They noted finding similar inconsistencies in earlier documents attributed to Wright that date back before ChatGPT’s official release, raising further questions about the timeline and source of his court materials.
The legal implications of these revelations could be significant, particularly if the court finds that Wright knowingly misrepresented facts and presented fictitious information generated by AI as genuine evidence.
Such conduct, if confirmed, could result in sanctions or penalties, with the potential for further legal repercussions depending on the outcome of COPA’s complaint.
Wright’s ongoing legal issues have become a source of controversy within the cryptocurrency community, which has long debated his claims of being Satoshi Nakamoto.
This new twist involving alleged misuse of AI tools only adds to the growing skepticism around his actions and statements.
While AI tools like ChatGPT can be helpful for drafting and summarizing information, their limitations are well-known, particularly regarding generating precise technical or legal content.
Tools like ChatGPT may “hallucinate” by producing incorrect or made-up information, a problem that appears to have affected the credibility of Wright’s submissions.
COPA has been vocal about its intentions to hold Wright accountable. Its legal team argues that these fabricated documents demonstrate a disregard for the legal process and potentially a willingness to mislead the court through AI-generated misinformation.
The stakes are high, as COPA aims to protect Bitcoin’s open-source integrity against what it views as Wright’s attempts to enforce intellectual property rights over the cryptocurrency’s core technology.
Whether the court will take action based on COPA’s allegations remains to be seen, but this case serves as a stark reminder of the potential ethical and legal risks of using AI in high-stakes legal situations.
As tools like ChatGPT become more widely adopted, courts and legal professionals may face new challenges in verifying the authenticity of AI-generated content.
As Wright’s case unfolds, the cryptocurrency world watches closely, mindful of the potential implications for the role of AI in legal documentation and the ongoing debate surrounding Wright’s identity as Satoshi Nakamoto.
