Illegal drug suspect charged with forgery for AI-generated letter

(123rf)

An individual charged with illegal drug possession and use is now facing a another trial for filing what he claimed was a petition containing a character reference letter from the head of a local sports association, but which was allegedly forged by the suspect's friend using ChatGPT, arguing for leniency from the court, state prosecutors said Thursday.

He was subsequently indicted for document forgery.

The letter, submitted to the prosecution during the man’s first trial on drug charges last year, contained sentences that were outlandish and lacking context, saying for example that the man, surnamed Kim, had “fought alone in the name of justice during the party’s unfortunate incident,” and that, due to his actions, “all citizens of the city, regardless of age or gender, were able to improve their health and social networks.” While portraying Kim’s act as serving the public interest, the reference letter lacked specific details about Kim’s activities.

At the time, Kim had been standing trial, detained at the Seoul Detention Center, for illegal possession and use of methamphetamine. Last month, he was sentenced to one year and three months in the first-trial ruling.

The prosecution said its further investigations revealed that a friend of Kim's had typed keywords into the artificial intelligence tool at Kim's request to attest to his character to write the letter. It turned out that Kim had no affiliation with the sports association mentioned or its head, whose name was written as the author of the letter.

In response to this case, the prosecution expressed its commitment to strictly addressing any criminal use of generative AI technology for forgery.

A sentence that appears to lack context is underlined in red on the petition containing a character reference letter that was submitted to the prosecution asking for leniency for a man surnamed Kim who was facing charges of illegal drug possession and use. (Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office)

By No Kyung-min(minmin@heraldcorp.com)