Dutch Court Invalidates Marriage Due to AI-Generated Vows

A Dutch court has annulled a marriage that took place last year after it was revealed that the vows used by the couple, generated by the AI tool ChatGPT, did not include the essential legal phrases required to formalize the marriage, making it legally unrecognized.

Details of the Incident

The wedding occurred in April 2025 in the city of Zwolle, where the couple appointed a friend as a temporary officiant (eendagsbabs). This friend opted to use ChatGPT to craft a more romantic and spontaneous wedding speech.

While traditional emotional questions were included, such as:
"Will you stand by your partner today, tomorrow, and every day to come?"
"Will you support each other in difficult times?"
the official legal declaration, which states that each party accepts the other as husband and wife and commits to the legal obligations of marriage, as required by Article 1:67 of the Dutch Civil Code, was absent.

The Court's Ruling

The municipality of Zwolle notified the prosecutor's office, which requested the removal of the marriage certificate from civil records and deemed the marriage illegal. The court rejected the couple's appeal, which emphasized the significance of the April 25 date for them, stating that the presence of an official officiant during the ceremony was not sufficient. The court remarked:
"We understand the date's importance to the couple, but legal requirements cannot be overlooked."
The court affirmed that the marriage was not legally established, cautioning against the legal risks of relying on AI-generated content for official and binding events.