World's first robot lawyer is being sued by a law firm
Topics: Technology, US News, Weird
Rhiannon Ingle
Featured Image Credit: O'Reilly/YouTube / R-Type / Alamy Stock Photo
Topics: Technology, US News, Weird
The world's first-ever robot lawyer - yes, you heard that right - has just been sued by a law firm.
What sounds like the plot of some 90s sci-fi blockbuster is actually a reality right now after the robo-lawyer was issued a lawsuit by Chicago-based firm, Edelson.
The founder of the artificial intelligence-powered technology, Joshua Browder, has since hit back and said such claims have 'no merit'.
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The world's first robot lawyer, created by the California tech company, DoNotPay, has been dubbed: "The world's first robot lawyer."
Founded by Browder, the technology was created in a hopes to help 'millions of consumers solve their problems'.
Taking to Twitter, Browder advertised: "DoNotPay is working on using GPT-4 to generate 'one click lawsuits' to sue robocallers for $1,500."
"Imagine receiving a call," the tweet continued, "clicking a button, call is transcribed and 1,000 word lawsuit is generated."
DoNotPay's official website echoes this, claiming that the system will 'fight corporations, beat bureaucracy and sue anyone at the press of a button'.
Ironically - it's the robot itself that has since been sued.
Browder took to Twitter to share the news DoNotPay's lawsuit last week (9 March).
He posted: "Bad news! Jay Edelson, America's richest class action lawyer, is suing my startup DoNotPay in California.
"Mr Edelson, who has made billions suing companies, is attacking us for 'unauthorized practice of law' and seeking a court order ending any A.I product," Browder concluded.
According to a file published by the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of San Francisco, the Edelson law firm claimed that the technology was 'unlawful' and that the DoNotPay company has 'substandard' legal documents.
The complainant said: "Unfortunately for its customers, DoNotPay is not actually a robot, a lawyer, nor a law firm.
"DoNotPay does not have a law degree, is not barred in any jurisdiction, and is not supervised by any lawyer."
The official file added: "Sadly, DoNotPay misses the point. Providing legal services to the public, without being a lawyer or even supervised by a lawyer is reckless and dangerous.
"It has real world consequences for the customers it hurts."
The report went on to outline a case in which the service allegedly ended up causing a legal 'consequence' for one of its users.
The report claims that one customer used DoNotPay to try and settle a dispute for two parking tickets and his fines 'actually increased because DoNotPay failed to respond to the ticket summons', the report explains.
The service also reportedly reversed another customer’s arguments in her parking ticket dispute.
The report details that she 'had intended to argue she was not at fault [yet] DoNotPay’s services instead admitted fault' resulting in the woman having to pay a $114 fine.
In a follow-up tweet, Browder responded saying such claims made by Edelson 'have no merit'.
"We are a startup and things happen. So, if you have any customer service issues with DoNotPay and you can't get them resolved through support," he wrote, attaching his personal phone number for customers to call.
"You can call me, even at 2am," he tweeted.
A spokesperson from DoNotPay told UNILAD: "DoNotPay respectfully denies the false allegations.
"The named plaintiff has submitted dozens of successful cases to DoNotPay and the cases highlighted in this lawsuit are meritless."
The statement continued: "The case is being filed by a lawyer who has personally been paid hundreds of millions from class actions, so it’s unsurprising that he would accuse an AI of ‘unauthorized practice of law.’
"We will defend ourselves vigorously," the spokesperson concluded.
UNILAD has reached out to both Edelson and DoNotPay for comment.