S.D.N.Y.: Individual Rules: Generative AI Declaration (Civil § 1.f, Criminal § 1.e, Civil…
Judge Dale E. Ho · U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
Verified September 30, 2026
- Citation
- Individual Rules: Generative AI Declaration (Civil § 1.f, Criminal § 1.e, Civil Pro Se § 8; Cases Assigned to Judge Ho)
- Order date
- January 8, 2026
Summary
Any party who uses generative AI (such as ChatGPT, Harvey, CoCounsel, or Google Bard) to generate any portion of a motion, brief, pleading, or other filing must attach to the filing a separate declaration disclosing the use of AI.
What does the order require?
- Any party who uses generative AI (such as ChatGPT, Harvey, CoCounsel, or Google Bard) to generate any portion of a motion, brief, pleading, or other filing must attach to the filing a separate declaration disclosing the use of AI.
- The declaration must certify that the filer has reviewed the source material and verified that the artificially generated content is accurate.
- The declaration must affirm Rule 11 compliance.
- Appears in Judge Ho's Individual Rules for civil cases (§ 1.f), criminal cases (§ 1.e), and civil pro se cases (§ 8), all revised January 8, 2026; the pro se version omits the Rule 11 clause.
Practice areas: federal civil, federal criminal
What the order requires
Judge Dale E. Ho’s Individual Rules for civil (§ 1.f), criminal (§ 1.e), and civil pro se (§ 8) cases, each revised January 8, 2026, require a separate declaration attached to any filing prepared with generative AI. The rule covers generative AI “such as ChatGPT, Harvey, CoCounsel, or Google Bard”; the declaration must disclose AI use and certify that the filer reviewed the source material and verified the AI-generated content (the civil and criminal versions add Rule 11 compliance). The rule states no sanction of its own.
Two design choices: (1) the disclosure must be a separate declaration, not a paragraph within the filing, and (2) the same rule runs across his civil, criminal, and pro se dockets, which is uncommon for a chambers AI rule.
Primary source
Individual Rules (criminal): https://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/practice_documents/DEH%20Ho%20Individual%20Rules%20and%20Practices%20in%20Criminal%20Cases%20-%20January%202026.pdf