EyeLevel.ai Co-Founder Defends Tech's Use in Pras Michel Trial, Calls Allegations a 'Creative Act of Fiction' 

On Oct. 17, the latest legal AI story hit the general news cycle when rapper Pras Michel, formerly of the Fugees, blamed his federal conviction, at least in part, on his defense counsel's use of EyeLevel.ai, an allegedly "experimental AI program," in preparing closing arguments. Michel was convicted of conspiring with a fugitive Malaysian financier to influence two U.S. presidential administrations in an alleged lobbying schemes involving straw campaign donations, acting as a foreign agent for China and witness-tampering.

Ex-Fugee rapper Pras Michel. (Courtesy photo)

In a 50-page brief in support of a motion for a new trial, Michel's new attorneys at ArentFox Schiff devote three pages to asserting that Michel's prior defense counsel, Los Angeles-based David Kenner, was ineffective and damaged the case, in part because he "generated his closing argument—perhaps the single most important portion of any jury trial—using a proprietary prototype AI program in which he and [trial team member] Alon Israely appear to have had an undisclosed financial stake." Michel argues that the closing argument "made frivolous arguments, misapprehended the required elements, conflated the schemes and ignored critical weaknesses in the government's case."