LOS ANGELES—Lawyers representing the parent company of OnlyFans.com, Fenix International Limited, told a federal district judge in Santa Ana on Wednesday that no leave should be granted to attorneys suing the popular premium fan network, as they had allegedly used artificial intelligence (AI) hallucinations in their filings.
A filing made in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California this week expresses concern that the judge allowed attorneys for the suing plaintiffs leave to correct and make new filings that are free from artificial intelligence, notes Law360.com.
"Read together, Plaintiffs’ papers give an impression of a group of attorneys trying to manage bad litigation optics, rather than taking responsibility for their actions and omissions," the lawyers for OnlyFans argue in their motion of opposition to the plaintiffs' initial request to update the filings riddled with AI.
They add, "The court should deny the motion as meritless. Plaintiffs decided to '[use] AI-generated content in the Opposition Briefs without reviewing the content.' Fenix should not pay the price for plaintiffs’ misconduct."
OnlyFans and a defendant class of "chatter" agencies are being sued by a proposed class of plaintiffs who allege fraud and RICO violations.
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which was created to fight organized crime rings, can be used in courts to file civil claims against potentially "corrupt" organizations.
At issue for the plaintiffs is that users who interact with creators on OnlyFans believe that they are victims of fraud. The fraud claims derive from the fact that a cottage industry of so-called "chatter" agencies has propped up within the multi-billion-dollar ecosystem of the premium social network known for its porn content.
After attorneys for Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, led by Arizona-based partner Robert B. Carey, filed the class action against OnlyFans and the chatter agencies, it was revealed that an attorney from Carey's firm used artificial intelligence tools, such as OpenAI's ChatGPT, to draft filings that contained false and incorrect citations.
"Plaintiffs argue that their predicament is somehow Fenix’s fault," said the attorneys for Fenix. "Plaintiffs claim Fenix ... [has] ... no right to oppose Plaintiffs’ request for corrected briefing because Fenix failed to alert Plaintiffs’ counsel about the AI hallucinations sooner and should have stipulated to allow them to file corrected briefs."
Carey and his legal team started soliciting plaintiffs for a class action as early as November 2023.
Dubbed "Save the Fans," attorney Carey claimed at the time to be "investigating the OnlyFans industry and has found widespread questionable practices that could put you at risk of extortion, blackmail, or humiliation."
