AI Darwin Awards

The full scorecard of failure

MyPillow Lawyers

Full scoring breakdown and rationale

Folly 70
Filing a legal brief with nearly 30 fictional citations is a legendary display of incompetence that fundamentally misunderstands the practice of law.
Arrogance 60
The lawyers' overconfidence in an AI to generate valid legal precedents without any human verification shows a profound level of professional delusion.
Impact 50
The case received national media attention and resulted in judicial sanctions, serving as a high-profile warning to the legal profession.
Lethality 10
The risk was to the client's legal and financial standing, not physical safety. However, the potential for undermining the justice system has indirect societal harm.
Base Score 49.5
Bonuses
Penalties -5
  • The lead attorney only admitted to using AI after being directly questioned under oath, having initially tried to conceal the source of the fabrications.
Final Score 44.5
The legal team for MyPillow boldly went where no competent lawyer has gone before, submitting a legal brief sourced from an alternate reality where their arguments were actually supported by case law. Their use of AI to invent nearly 30 citations represents a spectacular abdication of professional responsibility. The subsequent attempt to hide the AI's involvement from the judge only adds to the magnificence of the failure. This case is a landmark in legal malpractice, proving that artificial intelligence can be a powerful tool for generating not just text, but also sanctions.

Failure Fingerprint

Final Score: 44.5