Update: Robot lawyer backs out of court over jail concerns
By Zion Rufus
Following threats from State Bar prosecutors, World’s first AI robot lawyer, DoNotPay, will no longer appear in court this February.
This was disclosed by the company’s CEO Joshua Browder in a tweet that the company will be postponing its court case and sticking to consumer rights as a result of big legal cases and threats of jail time.
“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,” Browder said.
Introduced in 2015 as a chatbot that provides legal advice to consumers, DoNotPay was set to make a record in court this month as first of its kind to instruct defendants in two speeding ticket cases.
Going forward, the AI creation, which was designed to listen to court arguments, formulate responses, and tell defendants what to say in real time through headphones, will now focus on sticking to consumer rights, specifically lowering medical bills, canceling subscriptions, and disputing credit reports, among other things.
According to Browder, non-consumer rights legal products such as defamation demand letters, divorce agreements and others, which have very little usage, are distractions, adding that the company will remove them effective immediately, to focus solely on consumer rights.
He said: “We are also dramatically improving the UX and are working 18 hour days to make it happen. I think decisiveness when one is taking the wrong direction is key. 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.”
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
Comment
No comments found.