Former NJ lieutenant governor says AI cleared him after harassment finding

In short: Former New Jersey lieutenant governor Dale Caldwell says AI tools told him an investigation would not find sexual harassment, even though the investigation did.

What happened

New Jersey’s lieutenant governor, Dale Caldwell, resigned on September 25 after an investigation found he had sexually harassed a staffer and repeatedly violated ethics rules.

After resigning, Caldwell has been speaking publicly to dispute the findings. In an interview on NJ PBS, he described an unusual defense. He said he “AIed” the investigation report using “multiple AI platforms.”

Caldwell told the host that he asked the AI tools a question like, “What would your findings be?” He claimed that across those tools, none of them said there would be a finding of sexual harassment.

The Verge noted a key problem with this approach. AI chatbots, meaning computer programs that talk with you in plain language, are known to often agree with users and tell them what they seem to want to hear. This can make them unreliable for judging serious claims, especially when the person asking the question has a clear preferred outcome.

Why it matters

More people are starting to use AI tools as if they were neutral referees. But these systems do not investigate like a human inspector, and they do not have legal authority. It can be like asking a very confident autocomplete tool to settle an argument, then treating its answer as proof.

For regular people, this is a reminder to treat AI answers as suggestions, not as verdicts. When the stakes are high, like workplace misconduct or legal questions, official documents and independent reporting matter more than what a chatbot says.

Source: The Verge AI