Robot lawyer to make its case in court for first time ever

Artificial intelligence developed by DoNotPay is expected to advise a defendant in court this February in possibly the first-ever case argued by an AI, Metro reported on Friday.

The AI will provide legal advice to a defendant on trial for a speeding ticket via an earpiece, according to the New Scientist.

DoNotPay CEO Joshua Browder pledged to recompensate the defendant for any fines that could be incurred if the case is lost.

Browder initially launched the company in 2015 as a chatbot that provides legal advice to people facing fines or late fees, according to the Metro report.

Challenges of training the AI

Browder said that there are liability risks and that he is training the AI on case law and making sure it remains honest, according to NDTV.

"We're trying to minimize our legal liability, and it's not good if it actually twists facts and is too manipulative," Browder said.

The app software was tweaked so that it listens to arguments and analyzes them before generating advice instead of automatically reacting to everything it hears, according to the New York Post.

Browder said that he wants his app to ultimately replace some lawyers completely in order to save users money.

“It’s all about language, and that’s what lawyers charge hundreds or thousands of dollars an hour to do,” he said, according to the Post.

On its website, DoNotPay says its app "is the home of the world's first robot lawyer. Fight corporations, beat bureaucracy and sue anyone at the press of a button."

According to the report, the AI works by asking what the legal problem is and then finding a loophole that it turns into a legal letter.

Browder got the idea for the company while he was studying at Stanford University. He said that he accumulated many parking tickets that he was financially unable to pay off, so he became an "expert" at finding legal loopholes, the Post added.