New court filing in SEC-LSU lawsuit includes artificial intelligence disclosure

• The Southeastern Conference's attorneys disclosed using artificial intelligence to help draft a legal filing against LSU.
• A specific AI tool named Harvey was used to generate the 41-page response to LSU's motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
• The SEC's legal team certified that they reviewed the AI-assisted document for accuracy and legitimacy.
• The lawsuit, which originally centered on football eligibility, has been expanded to include LSU men's basketball.

A unique detail could be found on the next-to-last page of the Southeastern Conference's latest filing in its lawsuit against LSU.

According to documents obtained by The Tuscaloosa News on Tuesday, Oct. 13, SEC attorneys used the assistance of artificial intelligence when creating the 41-page response to LSU's motion to dismiss the conference's lawsuit that first sparked over eligibility concerns with the football program.

The 40th page of the SEC court filing is a "Disclosure of Use of Artificial Intelligence," in which SEC attorneys explicitly state the "document was generated with the assistance of Harvey" and "certify under penalty of perjury that, despite use of an AI tool" that documents have been independently reviewed for "accuracy, legitimacy, and use of good andapplicable law."

No such disclosure was included in the SEC's initial complaint against LSU on Sept. 3, or in the SEC's amended complaint on Sept. 8.

The SEC's response was filed electronically at 5:47 p.m. on Oct. 13 − the final day of the deadline first set by U.S. District Judge Annemarie Carney Axon on Sept. 28 for the conference to respond to LSU's motion to dismiss.

Harvey's LinkedIn profile describes the software as "domain-specific AI for legal and professional services" used by over 200,000 lawyers in more than 85 countries. The LinkedIn bio also states that Harvey has been "adopted" by Fortune 500 companies like AT&T, Verizon, Cox, Koch, KKR, Bridgewater, and is backed by investors including Sequoisa Capital, OpenAI and more. Harvey claims that 80% of AmLaw 100 law firms rely on the AI to "advance legal expertise faster across contract analysis, due diligence, compliance and litigation."

The disclosure was submitted by SEC legal counsel members including Robert W. Fuller of Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson, P.A. and R. Thomas Warburton of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP.

To keep the lawsuit from being thrown out, the SEC has also expanded its argument to include LSU men's basketball and the recruiting practices of Will Wade. As of now, Wade has not been named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

Per the same September court order by Judge Axon, who has yet to rule on whether the lawsuit should be dismissed, LSU has until Oct. 20 to respond to the SEC's opposition to the university's motion for dismissal.

Emilee Smarr covers Alabama basketball and Crimson Tide athletics for The Tuscaloosa News. She can be reached via email at [email protected].