A Delta Airlines employee sued her employer for discrimination. While representing herself, she used OpenAI’s ChatGPT as an attorney.
A Delta Airlines employee sued the major American airline for failing to promote her and discriminating against her due to her disability and religious beliefs.
The court has now granted the dismissal of the employee's complaint after she was unable to provide evidence in full and comply with court orders.
Delta asked for the dismissal, citing two primary concerns.
One is that the employee was recording the deposition without the court's approval.
This alone could seriously damage a court case, as it violates court rules and could lead to evidence being thrown out.
The second issue was that the employee was supposedly using AI, namely OpenAI’s ChatGPT, to help answer questions during her pre-trial testimony.
This is usually not permitted, as the employee is required under oath to recount events and provide evidence based on their own knowledge.
The employee admitted that ChatGPT was open on her laptop during the deposition, but refused to answer whether she was feeding information into the chatbot.
During her deposition, the Delta employee “appeared to be reading materials from her screen while responding to questions.”
When asked about this, she said that ChatGPT was open on her device.
Delta’s counsel then asked the employee “whether she was feeding information into ChatGPT as the deposition was progressing,” according to the lawsuit found by Court Watch.
The employee refused to answer, citing "attorney/client privilege” as her reason.
The employee initiated the lawsuit pro se, meaning she represented herself without help from an attorney.
ChatGPT was allegedly being used to help the employee on “how to proceed legally,” and she claimed the chatbot was acting as an attorney.
The employee’s complaint was dismissed at the request of Delta, and future complaints against the airline will not be considered.
Who is the Delta employee?
The employee, Lattice Jones, worked as a customer service agent from October 2012.
Jones claimed that Delta discriminated against her because of her religion, race, and disabilities, which she noted as being long covid, anxiety, and pelvic floor dysfunction.
She informed Delta that she needed religious accommodation alongside disability accommodation, as she claims to be disabled and disclosed that some relatives are also disabled.
Jones worked for almost 12 years with no issues, until she reported safety concerns and harassment from her manager in 2013, she asserts in her complaint, which was reviewed by Cybernews.
Following this, Jones claims that her manager threatened to remove her ability to change her working hours (shift swap).
In a bizarre twist, Jones also filed a “sweeping, temporary restraining order” against Delta Airlines under the guise of threat of immediate and irreparable harm, which was ultimately denied.
The court granted Jones multiple accommodations and told her that she must also provide evidence and participate in court proceedings.
Jones seemingly was unable to meet the deadline, and the court extended the deadline not once but twice.
Following an inability to provide all the evidence, the discovery ended in January 2026.
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