'A serious failure': CPS prosecutor cites fake case after AI search

A senior Crown Prosecution Service prosecutor cited a nonexistent case, CPS – R v J [2024] EWCA Crim 3529, while arguing in a high court dispute over prosecuting a child, an error understood to have come from an AI-generated summary during an internet search. Two senior high court judges called the explanation unsatisfactory and an AI and law expert called it a serious failure; the high court said the fictitious reference did not affect the outcome of the boy's challenge. The CPS said it has a strict AI policy and that the error was remedied with an internal review, as a UK tracker of AI-related court errors reached 101 entries.