(NewsNation) — A cancer survivor’s attempt to use an AI-generated avatar during a New York appeals court hearing was quickly shut down by a judge last month, highlighting tensions as new technology enters courtrooms.
Jerome Dewald, who experienced throat cancer 25 years ago, told NewsNation he sought to use the AI avatar because his “throat tends to give out” during extended speaking, making articulation difficult. The avatar would have delivered his prepared arguments without the physical limitations he faces.
“I got advanced approval for the video,” Dewald said Tuesday on NewsNation’s “Banfield” about the March 26 hearing. “I intended to use a replica of myself, but I had some technical difficulties getting it completed.”
Dewald, representing himself in an employment dispute before the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division’s First Judicial Department, said he was also having stage fright.
“Then there’s the pressure and the intimidation that a pro se feels in the courtroom by himself,” he said, referring to individuals who represent themselves without an attorney.
Justice Sallie Manzanet-Daniels abruptly halted the presentation when she realized the person on the screen wasn’t real.
The avatar, a young man with styled hair wearing a button-down shirt and sweater, had begun with “May it please the court. I come here today a humble pro se before a panel of five distinguished justices.”
“I don’t appreciate being misled,” Manzanet-Daniels told Dewald before allowing him to continue his arguments personally. She also said Dewald was attempting to “launch his business” in the courtroom, which he later clarified as “an innocent mistake.”
“I’m not really promoting a business at all,” Dewald said.
Dewald maintains he received prior approval for his presentation method, though not specifically for an AI-generated speaker.
“I had some technical difficulties getting it completed. It was the first time we ever tried it, a very new technology,” he told NewsNation.
Instead of his own likeness, Dewald used a generic avatar he referred to as “James,” joking that the digital representation was “much more handsome than I am.”
Following the hearing, Dewald sent a letter of apology to the court.
“I trust that the panel would not be influenced by this too much,” he said. “I noticed that the Presiding Justice was the one who shut the TV up. Later when I was giving the argument, she acted as though she maybe felt she had been a little bit harsh with me.”
The incident adds to a growing list of AI-related complications in legal settings. In June 2023, two attorneys and a law firm were each fined $5,000 by a federal judge after using an AI tool that cited fictitious legal cases. Later that year, Michael Cohen, former personal lawyer for President Donald Trump, submitted legal papers containing AI-invented court rulings.
Dewald’s employment dispute case remained pending before the appeals court as of press time. He said a ruling might be expected in approximately four weeks.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.