Parole board uses AI-invented court cases to silence convict
Tasmania's Parole Board banned a murder convict from speaking about her innocence using a document citing non-existent court cases.
Susan Neill-Fraser has maintained her innocence for 17 years after being convicted in 2009 of murdering her partner Bob Chappell, whose body was never found. Neill-Fraser was released on parole in 2022.
Last December, Tasmania's Parole Board added a condition forbidding her from speaking to media about her case. The justification was a document listing previous court decisions that supposedly supported the ban.
The problem: those court cases do not exist. They were generated by AI.
Neill-Fraser has since challenged the restriction in court. Advocates say the case shows a danger in how courts use AI.
- 17 years since 2009 conviction
- Years of claimed innocence
- 23 years total, 13-year minimum term
- Sentence imposed
Why it mattersIf courts and parole boards trust AI documents without checking them, innocent people may be silenced and guilty verdicts go unchallenged.
AustraliaThis raises urgent questions about how Australian state governments use AI in justice decisions affecting prisoners' rights and appeals.
✓ Claims checked against the source. checked 36 min ago
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