On September 16, 2026, Taiwan Supreme Court held that the use of generative AI to prepare an appellate brief does not, by itself, make the appeal meritless or procedurally defective. GenAI is merely one method of producing a document. Once an appellant signs or seals and files the brief, the appellant adopts its contents and bears the resulting procedural consequences.
The appellant/defendant was convicted by the Tainan District Court of aggravated fraud, together with money laundering, and sentenced to one year and two months. He appealed only the sentence, arguing for leniency. The Tainan Branch of the Taiwan High Court affirmed the sentence, after which the defendant filed a third-instance appeal that the Supreme Court considered likely prepared, in whole or in part, with GenAI assistance.
The Supreme Court emphasized that:
1. The decisive question was not how the brief was written, but whether it identified a legally valid ground for vacating the lower-court judgment. Under Article 377 of Taiwan’s Code of Criminal Procedure, a third-instance appeal must specifically identify how the lower court committed legal error.
2. Although the defendant’s brief cited numerous legal principles, such as proportionality, individualized sentencing, sentencing fairness, and inadequate reasoning, none of them could sufficiently prove a concrete legal error in the High Court’s judgment. It instead merely repeated disagreements with the lower courts’ assessment of the evidence and sentencing factors.
3. Accordingly, the appeal was dismissed for failure to satisfy the statutory requirements for a third-instance appeal, not because GenAI was used. The Court further clarified that it has no obligation to correct AI hallucinations, supply missing record support, or reconstruct an otherwise deficient appellate argument.
Source: 115 Tai-Shang-Zi No. 3896 (2026.9.16) https://judgment.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TPSM,115%2c%e5%8f%b0%e4%b8%8a%2c3896%2c20260916%2c1
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