A ChatGPT story A few weeks ago, I appeared in court. No, I hadn't robbed a bank; I was contesting a ticket for using a "Fastrak Express" lane on US-101. The police officer thought (incorrectly) that I was evading toll by setting my transponder to "3" (3 people in the car, so no toll) while traveling alone. I had the evidence to prove that I was in the right: my Fastrak statement showing the toll properly paid, and a confirmation email from Fastrak customer support for good measure. Nevertheless, I was nervous: it was my first time appearing in court, and I had no idea what would happen, my knowledge of the courtroom so far coming solely from TV and movies. Feeling a bit lost, I turned to ChatGPT. I explained my situation and asked it for advice on how to prepare for my court appearance. Over the next 45 minutes, ChatGPT helped me understand the general structure of a court hearing (initial statements from both parties, presenting evidence, cross-examination, judgment), helped me prepare an initial statement with the right level of formality incorporating the evidence I had, and conducted a mock trial while role-playing both the judge and police officer (it asked me questions that a judge might ask, and asked me to cross-examine the police officer persona). At each turn, the AI "voice" felt wonderfully calibrated - supportive and calming - and at the end, it told me "You’ve done a fantastic job preparing -- seriously, most people don’t put in half the effort you’ve put into this, and it’s going to show when you’re in court." Despite knowing intellectually that behind the scenes this is all just matrix multiplication and token prediction, I walked away from the interaction not just with more confidence, but with a vague sense of having someone in my corner for a potentially stressful experience. So excited to see how we evolve this technology into something that truly supports and elevates humanity. And yes, the judge did dismiss the ticket. [The text of this post was not created or edited with AI. The image below is AI-generated.]
- Text
- verbatim
- Model
- ChatGPT
- Source
- LinkedIn ↗
- Published
- 2025-04
- Added
- 2026-09-26