It takes a certain level of confidence to place your freedom in the hands of an artificial intelligence (AI) bot. Sure we trust AI with less life-altering issues like regular work and entertainment, but legal matters are another… matter.
In what could be a game changer, an AI bot is set to advise a defendant in a court of law in February this year. A world first. The robot will run off a smartphone through the DoNotPay app on the defendant’s phone. It will listen to the court proceedings and via an earpiece, it will advise the defendant on what to say.
Legally AI
Yes, it sounds familiar. We’ve seen this in a few Hollywood blockbusters, so we can already imagine it but it’s bound to have a few teething issues.
The bot’s makers haven’t disclosed the court’s location, the defendant’s name, or the specific legal matter that will be heard in February. It’s unlikely to be too serious a charge. That’s not the sort of first test any company wants to give its product.
Read More: AI might be seemingly everywhere, but there are still plenty of things it can’t do – for now
DoNotPay, the company behind the robot, was founded in 2015 by a Stanford University computer scientist, Joshua Browder. The app was launched as a chatbot in the same year to provide legal advice to customers. The app focuses on issues relating to late fees, parking tickets, and fines.
Over 150 000 people, according to the company, use the app across the US and the UK. Mostly, users write legal letters on claims, complaints, and visa-related letters. As legal fees continue to spike, apps like DoNotPay could become the answer to dealing with relatively minor legal issues without taking on the burden of high legal fees.
Source: Daily Mail