A robot powered by artificial intelligence is set to become the world’s first “robot lawyer” and will take on speeding ticket cases in court next month, its creators have said.
Joshua Browder, the CEO of Startup DoNotPay, which bills itself as “the home of the world’s first robot lawyer” confirmed the news on Twitter on Monday.
Browder said the company is offering to pay any lawyer or person $1 million to use the AI lawyer in an upcoming case in front of the United States Supreme Court.
“We have upcoming cases in municipal (traffic) court next month. But the haters will say ‘traffic court is too simple for GPT.’ So we are making this serious offer, contingent on us coming to a formal agreement and all rules being followed,” Browder wrote.
The CEO did not provide further details regarding the defendants in the case or the location of the court.
According to DoNotPay’s official website, the company uses artificial intelligence to “help consumers fight against large corporations and solve their problems like beating parking tickets, appealing bank fees, and suing robocallers.”
AI Technology Banned in Court Room
“DoNotPay’s goal is to level the playing field and make legal information and self-help accessible to everyone,” the website states.
The company, founded in 2015, is backed by multiple Silicon Valley investors, including venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Crew Capital and private equity company, Greylock Partners.
Speaking to CBS News, Browder, a Stanford University computer scientist, explained that the AI lawyer runs on a smartphone and listens to court arguments before formulating real-time responses for the defendant to repeat via headphones.
According to Browder, the company, which has raised nearly $30 million from the various tech-focused venture capital firms, has already used the AI technology to create letters and chatbots to help people over 2 million people secure refunds for everything from parking ticket disputes to failed in-flight Wifi.
“In the past year, AI tech has really developed and allowed us to go back and forth in real-time with corporations and governments,” he told CBS. “We spoke live [with companies and customer service reps] to lower bills with companies, and what we’re doing next month is trying to use the tech in a courtroom for the first time.”
It is unclear how the AI technology will work in the Supreme Court, given that it bans any electronic devices from being present in the courtroom while Court is in session.
‘A Lot of Lawyers and Bar Associations Would Not Support This’
However, Browder told Gizmodo that certain accessibility rules allow for exemptions to the court’s policy on electronic devices in order to provide for reasonable accommodations.
“We would never do anything against the rules,” he told Gizmodo.
The Epoch Times has contacted the Supreme Court for comment.
According to Business Insider, users will have to pay $36 a year to use the AI lawyer to contest issues such as refunds or parking tickets. Customers will have to answer questions detailing their case and a chatbot will then decide if they qualify for an appeal.
Browder told CBS that the company will cover any fines if the robot lawyer loses the case.
However, the so-called AI lawyer also poses a number of issues, including the fact that it cannot be sued and is illegal in most courtrooms.
“There are a lot of lawyers and bar associations that would not support this,” Browder told CBS. “It’s within the letter of the law, but I don’t think anyone could ever imagine this would happen,” Browder said. “It’s not in the spirit of law, but we’re trying to push things forward and a lot of people can’t afford legal help. If these cases are successful, it will encourage more courts to change their rules.”
China was the first nation to use artificial intelligence in court. The machine, built and tested by the Shanghai Pudong People’s Procuratorate is able to file a charge with more than 97 percent accuracy, researchers claim, although there are concerns that the technology can be used to further clamp down on the rights of individuals.
Katabella Roberts is a news writer for The Epoch Times, focusing primarily on the United States, world, and business news.
