ChatGPT Traces in Court Ruling: Hessian Judges Favor AI Sources

A ruling by the Hessian Administrative Court of Appeals dated June 24, 2026, which refers a legal question to the European Court of Justice, contains five web links ending in 'source=chatgpt.com', indicating the judges used OpenAI's ChatGPT for research. The court acknowledged that a cited Georgian decree from 2026 was not supported by the linked 2025 article, but argued that other sources confirmed the legal point. Another link to a 2015 decree pointed to a 2025 amendment, raising similar doubts, though the court insisted the citation was sufficient. The court defended its use of AI, citing difficult access to Georgian legal sources and stating that due to AI's error-proneness, a cross-check was performed. It deferred the question of whether to remove such AI-linked traces from documents to judicial independence, as long as no sensitive information is uploaded to external AI systems.