Smartphone-Powered "Robot Lawyer" Scrapped Due to Threats of Jail Time
Historical experiment scrapped after jail threats
The Gist
Joshua Browder, CEO of DoNotPay, announced that his company will not be sending the AI-powered robot lawyer to court after State Bar prosecutors threatened him with prison time.
DoNotPay's smartphone-powered robot lawyer was set to make history by being the first AI creation to help a defendant fight a traffic ticket in court on February 22nd.
Browder said that the AI creation was designed to listen to court arguments and formulate responses in real-time through headphones, but he deemed the risk of spending six months in jail not worth it.
Lawyers' backlash against the experiment suggests that they are concerned over AI-powered chatbots taking over their jobs.
DoNotPay has used AI-generated form letters and chatbots to help people with refunds for faulty in-flight Wi-Fi and to dispute parking tickets, winning over 2 million customer service disputes and court cases in total.
The ultimate goal of the robot lawyer is to democratize legal representation by making it free for those who can't afford it, in some cases eliminating the need for lawyers.
However, the technology behind DoNotPay is illegal in most courtrooms, and Browder doesn't expect to be able to commercialize the product anytime soon.
Browder wants to give individuals the same tools that big corporations have access to with AI-powered chatbots.
More Detail
DoNotPay CEO, Joshua Browder, announced on Wednesday that his company has postponed its court case and will focus on consumer rights. The planned court case involved sending the company's AI-powered robot lawyer to court to help a defendant fight a traffic ticket. The robot lawyer was designed to listen to court arguments and provide real-time responses to the defendant via headphones. However, the plan was scrapped after state bar prosecutors threatened Browder with prison time.
Browder revealed that the legal profession's backlash against the proposed stunt shows concerns over AI-powered chatbots taking over their jobs. DoNotPay had already used AI-generated form letters and chatbots to help individuals win over 2 million customer service disputes and court cases against institutions and organizations. The company has raised $27.7 million from venture capital firms, including Andreessen Horowitz and Crew Capital.
The ultimate goal of the AI-powered robot lawyer is to democratize legal representation and make it free for those who cannot afford it. However, the technology is illegal in most courtrooms and Browder doesn't expect to be able to commercialize the product anytime soon. Lawyers and bar associations have threatened Browder and told him he would be sent to jail for using the technology in court.
To overcome the AI's shortcomings, Browder wants to send the technology to "law school" and retrain the AI to know the law. AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT has gained popularity for its ability to generate coherent essays on various topics, but Browder highlighted its lack of sophistication and highlighted the need to retrain the AI to know the law.