Right now, A.I. chatbots are changing the world. But one place they won’t be just yet is in a physical courtroom.
Earlier this month, DoNotPay announced it would be bringing “the world’s first robot lawyer” into a real U.S. court case in what would have been a major move for A.I technology and its increasing global influence.
The company was set to fight a client’s speeding ticket in February, but instead, CEO and founder Joshua Browder tweeted Wednesday that the stunt was off the cards, saying that he’d received threats from 'State Bar prosecutors'—and believed that he would be jailed for 6 months if he followed through.
Good morning! 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:
— Joshua Browder (@jbrowder1) January 25, 2023
Browder added that DoNotPay’s ambitions in this area would be put on hold, and that the company would pull back and stick with its focus on consumer rights.
“There isn't a lawyer that will get out of bed to help you with a $400 refund,” he wrote. “As much as I love to experiment, I have to stay out of jail if I want to help people fight Comcast!”
If the stunt had gone ahead, the A.I. would have “listened” to the case and used large language models (LLMs) and the platform GPT-3, also used by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, to generate responses.
To get around the ban on electronic devices in some courtrooms, DoNotPay would have used hearing accessibility standards as a loophole, according to a report by Gizmodo—the client would hear the A.I.’s responses using AirPods, and then repeat them back exactly to the judge, without the court knowing.
Browder went so far as to offer a huge $1,000,000 to someone who would be willing to act as the medium between the A.I. and the courtroom. “The haters will say 'traffic court is too simple for GPT,'" Browder tweeted. “So we are making this serious offer, contingent on us coming to a formal agreement and all rules being followed.”
DoNotPay was reportedly also working on another similar U.S. case that would go to Zoom trial, potentially using either a teleprompter or a “highly illegal” synthetic voice.
What does DoNotPay do?
Since its launch in 2015, the company claims to have resolved 2 million cases—including successfully contesting over 160,000 parking tickets in its first two years. It began by providing templates to help consumers with issues such as canceling subscriptions, lowering medical bills and disputing credit reports.
The company has also made it easier to sue people via their app and, just last month, DoNotPay launched its A.I. chatbot with the aim to help people negotiate bills, by engaging in live chats with different companies.
Browder added that the company would be removing some of its services, including defamation demand letters and divorce agreements, but adding more consumer rights products to its repertoire.
