A Manhattan judge slammed NYCHA tenants for presenting his court with a “garbage” AI-crafted lawsuit before dismissing their case last week.
The Chelsea plaintiffs’ petition, which aimed to halt demolition of their deteriorating public-housing complex to make way for new affordable and market-rate housing, was allegedly written with the AI machine “Grok” and referenced at least two legal cases that do not exist.
“How is it fair to everyone else in this room when people want a decision on the law, when I’m going to make a decision on one side’s papers because the other side’s paper is garbage?” railed presiding Judge James D’Auguste to a crowded courtroom Wednesday, AMNewYork reported.
The residents of the Fulton-Elliot Houses have been working alongside wealthy neighborhood associations to stop the demolition of their complex, which would be replaced by construction under a new public-private partnership with NYCHA and related companies.
Housing advocate Marni Halasa, who lives near the complex, said the disgruntled tenants are worried about displacement — though NYCHA has guaranteed all existing tenants new apartments, and only 6% of the site’s 2,056 units will have to be temporarily relocated during the construction.
“I think the judge was, you know, pretty harsh,” she told The Post. “I mean, these are pro se litigants. These are people who are not sophisticated lawyers.”
The tenants initially filed their lawsuit without lawyers because of a lack of funding but brought on litigators John Low-Beer and Thomas Hillgardner to speak on their behalf at Wednesday’s hearing.
“Obviously, he was angry,” Low-Beer said of the judge.
The lawyer joined the case after the suit had already been filed, noting that petitioner and tenant Louis Flores did an impressive job with the use of artificial intelligence.
“I mean, Louis Flores did an amazing job, considering he’s not a lawyer,” he said.
Halasa noted that while the case was thrown out because of the AI snafu, a similar lawsuit filed by a separate tenant rights group is still ongoing.
Both petitions argue that the city did not follow its Universal Land Use Review process, which requires approval from the project’s community board, borough president, the city Planning Commission, City Council and the mayor.
NYCHA did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
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