For the first time in history, an AI bot will reportedly defend a human in court

• The defendant will be represented by artificial intelligence in court for the first time.
• DoNotPay leverages AI to help defendants against parking tickets and fines and create legal documents.
• Users can sign up for DoNotPay on an annual subscription for $36 per year.

History is said to be made in February as an artificial intelligence bot will advise the defendant for the first time in a court hearing.

As per a report, the world’s first robot lawyer will run on the defendant’s smartphone through an app called ‘DoNotPay’ and listen to court arguments in real time, telling the defendant what to say via earpiece.

The hearing is slated to take place sometime next month, but the makers of the robot lawyer are not disclosing the court’s location or the defendant’s name.

The idea of a robot lawyer stems from the company DoNotPay, founded in 2015 in California by Joshua Browder, a Stanford University computer scientist, to fight against parking tickets. Joshua Browder launched the DoNotPay in 2015 as a chatbot that provides legal advice to consumers dealing with fines, late fees, and parking tickets, but the company pivoted to AI in 2020.

Since its launch, the app has spread across the UK and US, and it's helping users to write letters dealing with a range of issues such as insurance claims, complaint letters to a local authority or business, applying for tourist visas, and more. Joshua Browder claims the usage of DoNotPay soared during the pandemic.

DoNotPay now claims to have around 150,000 paying subscribers.

DoNotPay - a way to justice?

The consumer who wishes to contest a ticket, requests a refund, or fight against spam calls can sign up for DoNotPay on an annual subscription for $36 per year. Once a user has signed up, they can use DoNotPay’s AI-powered chatbot to contest their claim.

Here’s how you can do that

• Input basic information, including the specific issue you’re looking to contest.
• DoNotPay processes that information using artificial intelligence and transforms it into a legal document.
• Depending on the issue, DoNotPay will display information as a worded email or a formal notarized court petition.
• To counter objections or arguments, DoNotPay uses AI to respond.

One such lawyer, Sally Hobson, a barrister at London- a based law firm, recently used an AI in a complex murder trial. The case involved the analysis of more than 10,000 documents. The software did the task four weeks faster than the humans, saving around £50,000. The software was developed by Eleanor Weaver, chief executive of Luminance. Luminance is used by more than 300 law firms in 55 countries, as the software is available in 80 languages.

AI bots raise ethics concerns

There are no current reports of legal AI bots behaving unexpectedly, but the possibility of error or unexpected behavior in the near future exists. Also, AI bots can’t be sued, which means complications when determining liability and compensation.

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