Jerome Gibson AI media incident — Nov 2024

The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal brought by Jerome Gibson, who challenged his 44-month prison sentence after it was revealed a police officer used artificial intelligence to draft a witness statement. Despite the discovery that the document was computer-generated, the court ruled that the sentence remained appropriate based on the established facts of the case.

What happened

Jerome Gibson was originally sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court for offenses including kicking down a door, threatening his partner with a knife, and causing grievous bodily harm to a police officer. During the legal proceedings, a police officer from Derbyshire Police used Microsoft Copilot to draft a victim personal statement attributed to Gibson's partner.

Evidence presented to the Court of Appeal revealed that the officer provided specific instructions to the AI tool to ensure the statement would "make a judge or reader weep" and explicitly requested that the output meet the "higher harm category" to secure the highest possible sentence. The officer made multiple entries into the software to refine the text, aiming to maximize its emotional impact.

While the Court of Appeal labeled the officer's conduct as "deplorable," the judges determined that the AI-generated content did not constitute hallucinations, as the underlying facts were based on statements the victim had provided during an interview. The court concluded that the use of AI did not result in a sentence that was "manifestly excessive."

Following the disclosure, the police officer involved was removed from front-line duties. Derbyshire Police confirmed that a criminal investigation into allegations of perverting the course of justice is currently ongoing, and the force is reviewing other potentially impacted cases.