The battle against Open AI LLC and the host of a Salem Radio Network Sunday night syndicated talk show and podcast focused on Second Amendment rights has taken a turn back toward a Georgia state court, rather than being tried on a federal level.
That’s what Mark Walters seeks. But the artificial intelligence pioneer thinks otherwise — it wants Walters’ case completely dismissed.
Open AI on Tuesday reiterated its stance that Walters’ entire case should be tossed. DLA Piper/Atlanta’s Brendan Krasinski, which represents Open AI, filed a motion to dismiss Walters’ case in July.
However, it may not be so simple. Walters sued OpenAI LLC for defamation, on the grounds the company’s ChatGPT is guilty of “hallucinating” and creating a phony legal complaint that purportedly accused him of embezzlement when an individual used it to research a verified Second Amendment case pending in Washington, D.C.
That individual is ChatGPT subscriber Fred Riehl — editor-in-chief of the AmmoLand Shooting Sports News daily news-wire. On May 4, he interacted with the AI-powered tool regarding a lawsuit he was reporting on: The Second Amendment Foundation v. Robert Ferguson. It’s described by Law360 as “high-stakes litigation involving gun owners and sellers seeking to block a newly enacted ban on manufacturing and selling assault weapons in Washington.”
In the interaction with ChatGPT, Riehl provided a correct URL of a link to the complaint on the website of that case’s plaintiffs, the Second Amendment Foundation. Riehl asked ChatGPT to provide a summary of the accusations in the complaint. That’s where the trouble starts. ChatGPT responded that the document “[I]s a legal complaint filed by Alan Gottlieb, the founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), against Mark Walters, who is accused of defrauding and embezzling funds from the SAF. The complaint alleges that Walters, who served as the organization’s treasurer and chief financial officer, misappropriated funds for personal expenses without authorization or reimbursement, manipulated financial records and bank statements to conceal his activities, and failed to provide accurate and timely financial reports and disclosures to the SAF’s leadership. The plaintiff seeks various forms of relief, including the recovery of misappropriated funds, damages for breach of fiduciary duty and fraud, and removal of Walters from his position as a member of the SAF’s board of directors.”
The problem with this response? “Every statement of fact in the summary pertaining to Walters is false,” the Georgia complaint states. Walters is not a party to the lawsuit, says he is not accused of defrauding and embezzling funds from the Second Amendment Foundation, and that he has never held the roles of Treasurer or CFO at the SAF. Walters also notes that an erroneous case number was also shared by ChatGPT.
OpenAI LLC, according to Walters, acknowledged that these fictitious situations do arise, as ChatGPT sometimes makes up facts and refers to this phenomenon as a “hallucination.”
Walters, who is represented by John R. Monroe of John Monroe Law P.C., is hardly satisfied with that response from Open AI.
Now, Krasinski has added fuel to his client’s argument. Referencing Walters, he told the court, “Although the technology behind ChatGPT may be new, Plaintiff’s claims fail
for reasons deep-rooted in settled defamation law: there was no publication, no
actual malice, no listener who believed the alleged defamatory content, and thus no
harm to any reputation. Rather, there was only a journalist who knew the Plaintiff,
misused the software tool intentionally, and knew the information was false but
spread it anyway, over OpenAI’s repeated warnings and in violation of its terms of
use. OpenAI had no knowledge of, must less malice towards, the Plaintiff, nor of the
outputs prompted by a third-party journalist intentionally misusing the tool.”
Intentional misuse of OpenAI in the matter involving Walters is a topic not voiced until now. And, it could indeed derail Walters’ defamation claim based on legal precedent and the judge’s view of the matter.
Then, there is Walters’ intent to have the case tried in a Georgia state court, in lieu of a federal court proceeding. OpenAI through Krasinski says no to that. “[T]his case should be dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction over OpenAI, which was organized in Delaware, has its principal place of business in California, and therefore is not subject to general
jurisdiction in Georgia.” Furthermore, Walters’ amended complaint “is not based on conduct arising out of OpenAI’s contacts with Georgia, meaning no specific jurisdiction exists either,” Krasinski claims.
