Expert Witness Used ChatGPT for Report in Houston Explosion Lawsuit

An expert witness involved in a lawsuit regarding a Houston explosion that resulted in three fatalities and significant property damage utilized ChatGPT to draft parts of his expert report. The witness, hired by 3M, publicly disclosed his AI prompts, which indicated that he sought assistance from ChatGPT to create a report defending 3M's standard of care and asserting that the company was '0% at fault' for the explosion at Watson Grinding. The explosion, which occurred in January 2020, was attributed to a defective rubber welding hose that leaked flammable gas, leading to the incident, according to the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. Plaintiffs have accused 3M of failing to maintain the gas detection system adequately. During the discovery phase, one of the plaintiffs' attorneys discovered a document generated by AI, prompting a request for all related prompts used by the expert. The expert's interactions with ChatGPT included requests for information on safety standards and critiques of defense claims. The final report submitted to the court was largely based on the initial output from ChatGPT, with revisions made throughout the process. The expert acknowledged that his prompts were biased toward supporting 3M's position in the case.