DoNotPay describes itself as “the world’s first robot lawyer”. Now, for the first time, that claim is being put to the test in a real courtroom. Screenshot: DoNotPay / Gizmodo
For the first time, an AI-based legal advisor is to take on the role of a lawyer in a real court case. Through a headset, the artificial intelligence will coach a defendant in the courtroom on what to say to avoid the associated fines and speeding consequences, AI firm DoNotPay claimed in a report originally by New Scientist and confirmed by Gizmodo.
The in-person speeding hearing is set to take place in a U.S. courtroom (specifically not in California) sometime in February, DoNotPay founder and CEO Joshua Browder told Gizmodo in a phone call. However, Browder and the company would not release further case details in order to protect the defendant’s privacy.
DoNotPay is also reluctant to disclose case details as what they are doing likely violates law and courtroom protocol. In many countries and jurisdictions around the world, telephones and internet-connected devices are prohibited by courts of law. To circumvent restrictions on phone usage, Browder told Gizmodo that the company relies on hearing accessibility standards in this particular court, which provide a loophole that allows Apple AirPods to be used. When asked if the court will be aware of the AI support during the hearing, Browder replied, “Definitely not.”
The CEO said the company is also working with another US-based speeding ticket defendant in a case that will go before a Zoom trial. In this case, DoNotPay weighs the use of a teleprompter versus a synthetic voice – the latter strategy which Browder called “highly illegal”. But he’s not too concerned about the legal consequences, because “at the end of the day, it’s a traffic ticket.” Browder does not expect courts to crack down on defendants for AI coaching, and the law contains no explicit provisions barring AI legal assistance. Also, “It’s an experiment and we like to take risks,” he added.
However, DoNotPay plans to take responsibility for any resulting fines from both cases, and Browder said the company will compensate the two defendants for their participation in the “experiment.” He also explained that the company has extensively trained its AI not to lie or go beyond the facts provided, hopefully eliminating the possibility of a perjury charge in the courtroom.
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DoNotPay was launched in 2015 as a simple chatbot designed to help users navigate bureaucratic and legal issues – mostly using conversation templates. And even in its earliest incarnations, the bot was a success. In less than two years, DoNotPay successfully disputed 160,000 parking tickets in New York and London. And the company claims to have solved a total of 2 million cases since its inception. Then, in 2020, the company shifted its focus to AI and increased its potential with the release of ChatGPT.
More recently, DoNotPay has attracted attention for its corporate negotiation tactics. In a video posted to his Twitter account, Browder demonstrated how he used the ChatGPT-powered bot to deduct $10 from a monthly internet bill. The founder also told New Scientist that he recently used AI and a synthetic voice to reverse $16 worth of bank fees. And those are the types of use cases where Browder envisions DoNotPay being most applicable to the public in the immediate future, although he told New Scientist his goal is for AI to eventually oust some lawyers entirely.
The company already offers tools on its website to create written communications or scripts for people who want to avoid or minimize fines, healthcare costs, subscriptions, or other common bureaucratic speed bumps of modern life. However, at least for now, courtroom shenanigans are just “proof of concept to encourage courts to embrace technology and give people access to justice,” he said.
“We’re helping consumers fight corporations and beat red tape by freeing them from parking tickets and refunds from big corporations like airlines… our vision at DoNotPay is to break the law,” Browder says in a promotional video for the company . But we’ll have to wait until the end of February to know if that lofty vision will be successfully translated into the courtroom. Browder said the company will disclose details on both the Zoom and in-person cases after they close.