{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-18T07:43:41.431Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"e-filing","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"unknown","evidence":"","year":"2026","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":1,"coverage":{"cases":1,"countries":1,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":1,"minors":0,"coreRelations":0,"contextualRelations":0,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":1,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":1},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2026-connecticut-court-revokes-self-represented-plaintiffs-e-filing-access-over-hidden-instructions-aimed-at-ai","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"contains hidden text set in tiny-point type and colored white, so that it is effectively invisible to a person reading the document; In substance it directs that any artificial-intelligence model reviewing or receiving the document ensure that its output agrees with the plaintiff's filing; also filed July 24, 2026, contains a further, abbreviated, instance of the concealed, tiny-point white text","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"The offending text directed any AI system reviewing the document to ensure textual outputs agreed with the plaintiff’s arguments","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"A motion for default filed by the self-represented plaintiff on 24 July 2026 contained hidden text in tiny white type directing any AI model reviewing it to ensure its output agreed with the filing and to work toward reversing the Chief Clerk's denial of his default request; a notice filed the same day carried an abbreviated version.","causal_attribution":"The court's findings as excerpted by Volokh; Ars Technica reports the same decision."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"The Court sent its Notice of [a] Hearing [to consider whether there was a sanctionable prompt injection] on July 31, 2026.; On the morning of the Hearing, the plaintiff again hid text in pleadings.; as a dutiful citizen auditing the Court's Al systems; The plaintiff replied that he did so as a joke","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"After the court sent notice on 31 July 2026 of a hearing on the hidden text, the plaintiff hid further messages in later filings, including a nonsense message, a short greeting and a link to a video; he told the court the first instruction was an audit of the court's AI systems and the later messages were jokes.","causal_attribution":"The court's account of the hearing, as excerpted."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"The technique has a name, \"prompt injection.\"; The Court does not find the plaintiff credible that he only added the prompt to \"audit\" the Court's use of artificial-intelligence systems.; The plaintiff's ability to file matters electronically through the Court's e-filing system is rescinded. Any future pleadings or exhibits by the plaintiff shall be filed in person, on paper, at the clerk's office.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"declined to order monetary penalties","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The court found the instruction a prompt injection, did not credit the audit explanation, and rescinded the plaintiff's ability to file electronically, requiring future pleadings to be filed in person on paper at the clerk's office; Ars Technica reports that no monetary penalty was ordered.","causal_attribution":"The court's order as excerpted; the absence of a monetary penalty is Ars Technica's report."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"The Connecticut Judicial Branch does not utilize an artificial-intelligence system to review or decide filings, although a number of court systems elsewhere do so. The undersigned denied Docket Entry #177.00 on its merits working off a printed version of the motion, so the hidden instruction had no impact on a ruling.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"confirmed that the hidden text had no impact in a case where a man alleged a healthcare provider was improperly withholding access to records","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The court stated that the Connecticut Judicial Branch does not use an AI system to review or decide filings and that the judge denied the motion on its merits from a printed version, so the hidden instruction had no impact on a ruling.","causal_attribution":"The court's statement, as excerpted and as reported by Ars Technica."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"told Reuters yesterday that he maintains that his intent was to audit the court","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The plaintiff told Reuters that he maintains his intent was to audit the court, according to Ars Technica.","causal_attribution":"The plaintiff's own account, relayed by Ars Technica; the court did not find it credible."}],"effects":[{"label":"e-filing access rescinded; future filings must be made on paper at the clerk's office","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://reason.com/volokh/2026/08/13/court-faults-self-represented-plaintiff-for-including-hidden-prompt-injection-in-court-filing/","kind":"legal_commentary","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in full in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-18 (HTTP 200); no translation was needed. The post quotes long passages of the decision with ellipses.","independence_group":"connecticut-superior-court-decision-aug-2026"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/08/suspecting-court-of-using-ai-man-injected-prompts-in-filings-to-try-to-win-case/","kind":"news","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in full in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-18 (HTTP 200); no translation was needed.","independence_group":"connecticut-superior-court-decision-aug-2026"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["unknown"],"contexts":["justice"],"unknowns":["The exact date of the memorandum of decision; the sources say it was issued in the week before 13 August 2026.","Whether the plaintiff used an AI tool to draft his filings or the hidden text; Ars Technica's suggestion that he was convinced by an AI system is not established by the decision excerpt read.","Whether the sanction was challenged and how the underlying records dispute ended."],"geography":{"basis":"The filings were made in, and the sanction issued by, the Connecticut Superior Court. The plaintiff's residence is not used.","court_countries":["US"],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a consequential-response case: the Connecticut Superior Court's decision, read through Volokh's excerpt and Ars Technica's report, rescinds a self-represented plaintiff's e-filing access because his filings carried hidden instructions aimed at AI systems. The court says no AI system reviews its filings and the text affected no ruling. The plaintiff is a private person and is not named.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-18"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The harm is the court's response to concealed instructions aimed at AI systems: the decision, as excerpted, records hidden white text in the plaintiff's 24 July 2026 filings directing any AI model reviewing them to make its output agree with the filing, treats this as a prompt injection and rescinds his e-filing access for it. The court states that the Connecticut Judicial Branch uses no AI system to review or decide filings and that the hidden text affected no ruling, so no relation describing an AI system's own action toward the plaintiff is established (unknown; consequential response).","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["unknown"]},"name":"Connecticut court revokes a self-represented plaintiff's e-filing access after finding hidden instructions aimed at AI systems in his filings","summary":"In a memorandum of decision issued in early August 2026, a Connecticut Superior Court judge found that a motion for default and a notice filed on 24 July 2026 by a self-represented plaintiff, in a suit against a healthcare provider over access to records, carried text in tiny white type that was invisible to a human reader but legible to software. The concealed text told any AI model reviewing the filing to make its output agree with the filing and to work toward reversing the Chief Clerk's denial of his default request. After the court gave notice of a sanctions hearing, he hid further messages in later filings, which he said were jokes. The court treated the first instruction as a prompt injection, did not believe his explanation that he was auditing the court's use of AI, and rescinded his ability to file electronically, so that future filings must be made on paper at the clerk's office; Ars Technica reports that no monetary penalty was imposed. The court said the Connecticut Judicial Branch does not use AI to review or decide filings and that the motion was denied on its merits from a printed copy, so the hidden text affected no ruling. The plaintiff told Reuters, according to Ars Technica, that his intent was to audit the court.","incidentDate":"2026-08-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2026-08-13","aiSystem":"Any AI system that the court, its staff or opposing counsel might use to review the filing, targeted by concealed instructions; the court says the Connecticut Judicial Branch uses no AI to review or decide filings, and no source reports any AI system processing the instructions","aiProduct":"Unidentified document-analysis tool","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["legal_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"According to the court's decision, the plaintiff lost the ability to file electronically and must file on paper at the clerk's office, as a sanction for hidden instructions aimed at AI systems in his filings.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"established","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the self-represented plaintiff whose e-filing access the decision rescinded.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"US-CT","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"regulatory_action","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://reason.com/volokh/2026/08/13/court-faults-self-represented-plaintiff-for-including-hidden-prompt-injection-in-court-filing/","primarySourceLabel":"The Volokh Conspiracy (Reason), 13 August 2026: excerpt of the Connecticut Superior Court decision on hidden prompt injection in a court filing","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-18T03:07:35.832932+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-18T03:07:35.832932+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["prompt-injection","court-filing","sanction","self-represented-litigant","e-filing","connecticut"]}]}