An attorney hired by the state of Maryland to defend its corrections department in an ongoing lawsuit over Baltimore jail conditions has resigned from the case after admitting to using generative artificial intelligence in filings for a separate case in Alabama.

The attorney, Matt Reeves of Butler Snow LLP, filed the motion to withdraw on Thursday, following a week of headlines over his recent admission to a federal judge in Birmingham, Alabama, that he used the AI platform ChatGPT to identify cases to cite in a lawsuit where he is representing the Alabama corrections department. Those citations ended up being “hallucinations” generated by the software for cases that didn’t actually exist.

The motion by Reeves did not identify a reason for his withdrawal, but said that his colleagues, including William Lunsford, who heads the firm’s correctional litigation practice, would continue on as counsel of record.

The Maryland attorney general’s office, which hired Butler Snow years ago to defend the Baltimore jail system, declined to comment last week on Butler Snow’s use of AI. Attorneys for the firm have billed the state roughly $776,712. Reeves and Lunsford did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment on the withdrawal.

The state’s decision to hire Butler Snow was a notable one, made under the previous attorney general, Brian Frosh, and former Gov. Larry Hogan. However, current Attorney General Anthony Brown has maintained course on the law firm’s employ, which was first reported by The Baltimore Banner in September 2023, despite its lofty price tag and minimal results so far to show for the firm’s efforts.

In Baltimore, Butler Snow was handed the tall order of bringing to an end litigation that stretches back to before the state corrections department took over the city jails in 1991. Over that time, the lawsuit has been settled, reopened and settled again, with mixed results.

It has forced an array of reforms at the jail and the closure of some of the most dilapidated structures, although independent monitors continue to report flaws in the jail’s medical and mental health care systems.