AI-Powered Pro Se Lawsuits Surge 64%, Judge Calls It 'Existential Threat' to Courts

A pre-print study from MIT's Anand Shah and USC's Joshua Levy, reported by the New York Times, documents a sharp rise in AI-assisted pro se lawsuits. Since widely available LLMs launched, 18% of pro se (self-represented) filings contain AI-generated text, and the total volume of pro se docket entries per court in the first 180 days of a case has grown 64% on average. The national non-prisoner pro se filing share jumped from ~11% to 16.8%—a 25-year record. Historically (1998–2017), pro se plaintiffs lost 96% of their cases.

The Times profiles a man who uses AI to generate lawsuits, lives in his car, and has faced court allegations—a cautionary tale of frivolous filings. Minnesota federal judge Patrick J. Schiltz calls this "an existential threat to the federal courts." While AI might democratize access to justice, the study highlights the burden of low-quality, slop-filled filings on an already strained judicial system. The phenomenon underscores the tension between empowering individuals and maintaining procedural integrity.