A Spanish judge was ordered to pay a €1,000 fine after it became known that they had used ChatGPT while preparing a draft judgment, reported El Financiero; the case was also covered by MTI.
The judge was discovered because the document still contained questions and prompts addressed to the artificial intelligence that the judge had failed to remove. According to the disciplinary committee, this constituted a breach of rules, as the judge shared information obtained during their duties outside official judicial channels.
The committee imposed a relatively light penalty because it determined the judge had used the AI only as an aid and not as a substitute for judicial work or for the substantive reasoning of the decision. For that reason the sanction did not exceed the €1,000 fine.
In Spain, courts may use only AI applications provided by the justice system or those that have received prior review and approval from the relevant council. The disciplinary case highlights ongoing questions among legal professionals and regulators about how to integrate AI into court work in a safe and compliant manner.
