AI ‘Robot Lawyer’ Won’t Fight For Justice In Court As Its Maker Risks Jail Time
Earlier this month, it was reported that a defendant in a US court of law would bring in an unorthodox representative—an artificially-intelligent robot lawyer—to argue their case. It would’ve been the first time a chatbot went up against the prosecution in court.
Centering around the speeding violation, the case was picked up by DoNotPay, a legal service tool that helps customers stand up to large organizations with its digital lawyer, fighting against charges such as parking tickets, robocalling, or wrong transaction fees.
During the proceedings, the DoNotPay AI will whisper in the defendant’s ear “exactly what to say,” though the company did admit it couldn’t guarantee a win. Nonetheless, it promised to pay for the ticket in full should its defense fail.
We have upcoming cases in municipal (traffic) court next month. But the haters will say “traffic court is too simple for GPT.”
— Joshua Browder (@jbrowder1) January 9, 2023
So we are making this serious offer, contingent on us coming to a formal agreement and all rules being followed.
Please contact me if interested!
However, it appears that the chatbot won’t be getting its day in court. In a new series of tweets, CEO Joshua Browder said the firm was postponing its court case after he received threats of jail time from state prosecutors if he moved forward with the plan.
Browder told NPR that multiple state bar associations had “threatened” him, even suggesting he could end up imprisoned for six months. As such, he had to call it quits, with the numerous letters becoming such a distraction that the company thought it best to just move on.
“Bad news: after receiving threats from State Bar prosecutors, it seems likely they will put me in jail for 6 months if I follow through with bringing a robot lawyer into a physical courtroom. DoNotPay is postponing our court case and sticking to consumer rights,” he tweeted.
For now, the chatbot will focus on helping customers lower medical bills, cancel unwanted subscriptions, dispute credit reports, and other similar cases that can be handled online rather than in front of an actual judge.
Specifically, lowering medical bills, cancelling subscriptions, disputing credit reports, among other things, with A.l. I think it's very important for companies to stay focused. Unlike courtroom drama, these types of cases can be handled online, are simple and are underserved.
— Joshua Browder (@jbrowder1) January 25, 2023
[via Engadget and NPR, cover image via Andrey Popov | Dreamstime.com]
