Dutch Court Invalidates Wedding Due to AI-Generated Speech Lacking Legal Language

A Dutch court has annulled a wedding that took place in April 2025 in Zwolle, after it was revealed that the marriage speech, crafted using the ChatGPT chatbot, did not contain the necessary legal phrases required for a valid marriage, rendering it legally unrecognized.

Details of the Ceremony

The couple had appointed a friend to act as a temporary civil registrar (eendagsbabs) for their ceremony. This friend opted to use ChatGPT to create a more romantic and personalized wedding speech. While the speech included traditional emotional questions such as:
"Will you stand by your spouse today, tomorrow, and all the days to come?"
"Will you support each other in difficult times?"
it lacked the official legal declaration that each party accepts the other as husband and wife, along with the legal obligations of marriage as outlined in Article 1:67 of the Dutch Civil Code.

Ruling by the Court

The municipality of Zwolle alerted the public prosecutor's office, which subsequently requested the annulment of the marriage certificate from the civil registry, declaring the marriage invalid. The court dismissed the couple's appeal, which emphasized the significance of their wedding date, arguing that the presence of an official registrar was adequate. The court responded:
"We recognize the importance of the date for the couple, but legal requirements must be strictly adhered to."
The court affirmed that the marriage was not legally valid, cautioning against the risks of using AI-generated content in formal and legally binding situations.