The first AI-powered "robot" lawyer will represent a defendant in court
The first time a "robot" lawyer powered by AI will represent a defendant in court.
Next month, an AI-powered "robot" lawyer will be the first of its kind to help a person fight a traffic ticket in court.
The CEO of DoNotPay, Joshua Browder, said that the company's AI runs on a smartphone, listens to court arguments, and comes up with answers for the defendant. Through headphones, the AI lawyer tells the defendant what to say in real time.
Browder says that the AI company has already used AI-made form letters and chatbots to help people get refunds for in-flight WiFi that didn't work, get their bills lowered, and fight parking tickets, among other things. Overall, the company has used these AI templates to win more than 2 million customer service disputes and court cases on behalf of individuals against institutions and organisations, he said.
It has gotten $27.7 million from venture capital firms like Andreessen Horowitz and Crew Capital that focus on technology.
"AI technology has come a long way in the last year, and we can now talk back and forth in real time with corporations and governments," he told CBS MoneyWatch. "We talked live with companies and customer service reps to get them to lower our bills. "Next month, we'll try to use the technology in a courtroom for the first time."
Browder said that DoNotPay would pay any fines if the robot lawyer lost the case.
Browder wouldn't say who the client was or what court it was in.
Some courts allow it, but not many.
Some courts let defendants wear hearing aids, and some of them can connect via Bluetooth. That's how Browder discovered that the DoNotPay technology can be used legally in this case.
But the technology can't be used in most courts. Some states need all parties to agree to be recorded, so a robot lawyer might not be able to go into many courtrooms. Only two of the 300 cases DoNotPay looked at to test its robot lawyer were possible.
Browder said, "It's not against the law, but I don't think anyone ever thought this would happen." "Even though it's against the law, we're trying to move things along because many people can't afford legal help." "If these cases go well, other courts will be more likely to change their rules."
Lawyers "wouldn't agree with this."
Browder says that the ultimate goal is to make legal representation available to everyone by making it free for those who can't pay for it. In some cases, this would mean that expensive lawyers would no longer be needed.
But since the technology is against the law in many courts, he doesn't think he'll be able to sell it any time soon.
"This stuff in court is more of an argument," he said. Browder said, "It's more to try to get the system to change."
He is well aware of the problems and obstacles that lie ahead.
He told CBS MoneyWatch that when he tweeted about showing off DoNotPay's robot lawyer in court, lawyers threatened him and said he would go to jail.
Browder said, "There are a lot of lawyers and bar associations who would not agree with this."
Giving ChatGPT a legal education
Browder wants to give people access to the same tools that are usually only available to big companies. These tools are usually out of reach for people without a lot of money.
Browder said, "What we're trying to do is automate consumer rights." "Big companies usually get new technologies first, but our goal is to get them to people first."
The AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT has recently become very popular because it can write coherent essays on a wide range of topics in less than a minute. Investors are interested in the technology, and the Wall Street Journal says that the parent company, OpenAI, could soon get investments that would value it at $29 billion.
Browder, however, pointed out its flaws and, in some cases, its lack of sophistication.
"ChatGPT is great at having conversations, but it doesn't know anything about the law." "We had to teach these AIs the law all over again," Brown said. "AI is still in high school, but we are sending it to law school."