3M Paid Expert Witness $475/Hour to Use ChatGPT to Defend Company in Major Explosion Lawsuit

Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories. 

"Show How 3M Is 0% at Fault"

Are you following 404 Media? You should be following 404 Media. The worker-owned tech news publication is producing some of the country's best journalism, and its latest bombshell boasts local angles up the wazoo.

We'll set the table by telling you about the lawsuit at the center of it all: Last week a Texas jury awarded $61.5 million to 24 plaintiffs who had sued 3M over the Maplewood-based conglomerate's role in an explosion at Watson Grinding, a Houston manufacturing facility; three died and dozens were injured in a blast that stemmed from a faulty gas detection system. Previous decisions against 3M and Watson Grinding have tallied more than $150 million, and more cases are working through the courts. "It's David and Goliath, no doubt about it," Rob Kwok, a lawyer representing plaintiffs, tells ABC13 Houston.

Turns out Goliath is relying on expert witness reports generated by ChatGPT. That's what 404 Media discovered after combing through court records that show Josh Autenrieth of Knighthawk Engineering produced a 30-page "expert report" for 3M that was “90 to 85 percent ChatGPT.”

Autenrieth prompted the AI bot to “create an exceptional expert witness report defending the standard of care at 3M,” and instructed it to “show how 3M is 0% at fault for the explosion at Watson Grinding.” Knighthawk billed 3M around $90,000 for its expertise; Autenrieth was paid $475 per hour for his... we'll be generous here and call it "work." The following passage jumped out to me, considering the lawsuit centered on improperly maintained gas detectors: "In another chat," 404's Jason Koebler writes, "Autenrieth uploaded an image of a gas detector and asked ChatGPT 'what am I looking at?'"

“This expert relied on AI not as an assistive device, but exclusively relied on ChatGPT to form his opinions and write his report,” Will Moye, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, tells Koebler. “He acknowledged [at trial] the prompts he put in were biased toward 3M to help 3M win the case […] it’s really egregious.”

All of this sound punishingly stupid to you? Buckle up for the rest of the AI era, baby.

Guy Living Overseas Making Bank From Twin Cities Group Homes

A team of MPR News and APM Reports reporters—Ellie Roth, Jennifer Lu, Christopher Peak, and Alyson Clary—dug up a doozy with this report on Sekou Dukuly, a Liberian government official whose companies collected "at least" $36 million over the past decade from ties to 24 Minnesota group homes.

Despite living in eastern Africa, Dukuly, as of last week, was still running "at least" three Twin Cities group homes, where government subsidies help bankroll care for folks with mental or physical disabilities; the industry has grown by 20% in recent years. A spokesperson for the Department of Health told MPR that “nothing in statute prohibits a person from living out of state," and no federal or state authorities have made accusations against Dukuly. But, as University of Minnesota public health professor Ezra Golberstein tells MPR, running those types of facilities from 5,500 miles away is “really messed up.” In other words: no fire yet, but a lotta eyebrow-raising smoke.

"The state has found Dukuly-linked group homes or their employees neglected residents in 10 cases," MPR/APM reporters write. "Public records also show some of Dukuly’s financial practices may have crossed legal lines."

Dukuly declined to be interviewed for the expansively reported story.

Right-Wing Obsession With Trans Athletes Not a Big Deal IRL

Minnesota Republicans like gubernatorial candidate Lisa Demuth and senatorial candidate Michele Tafoya are frothing over the issue of trans athletes. It's red meat for the culture war, and, to hear them fearmonger it, "protecting girls’ sports" is an urgent matter.

The thing is, as MinnPost's Matthew Blake discovered, is that there has only been one single case in Minnesota federal or state courts alleging that a trans athlete has harmed a female-born one. Ever. The Minnesota Department of Human Rights and the state attorney general office? Zero complaints. Ever.

It's mostly a numbers game.

“I work closely with schools and students on this issue,” Kat Rohn, executive director of LGBTQ+ advocacy org OutFront Minnesota, tells Blake. “The number of trans athletes in the state at a competitive level can be counted on one hand.”

That of course won't stop the frothing from your Demuths and Tafoyas. But surely the DFL-endorsed candidate for governor, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, will stand up for the a horrendously bullied demographic... right? When contacted by MinnPost, Klobuchar's team "provided a statement for this story that did not mention the rights of girls or trans girls, but alluded to legal precedent that Minnesota high schoolers can play sports based on their gender identity." Stirring stuff as always, anointed future governor.

Goofy-Ass Dancin' Mayor Makes National Headlines

We debated whether this one's worth covering, since lame-yet-committed dance moves are among Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey's lesser sins. But when Fox News, the New York Post, and TMZ all pounce on your dippy mayor, well, bust out the ol' Worst Person You Know meme.

For context, here's Frey unknowingly creating viral video at last week's Black Entrepreneur State Fair outside of Midtown Global Market. (Longtime mayor watchers know Frey has a long history of publicly dancing like nobody's watching, sometimes in "ostrich"-like fashion, as the Post puts it.)

• "Progressive Minneapolis mayor's viral hip-hop moves spark 'humiliation ritual' mockery online," Fox News declares.
• "Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey busts out painfully humiliating moves at Black Entrepreneur State Fair: ‘Brutal for real,'" New York Post concludes.
• "Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey Busting a Move Right Thurr!!!" TMZ screams, confusingly.

Elsewhere in Frey World: It wasn't juicy enough for the tabloids, but the mayor's recently released budget proposal hikes property taxes by 11.3%. This homeowner is not dancing with delight.