Chatbot that Overturned 160,000 Parking Fines Now Helping Refugees Claim Asylum (theguardian.com)

Elena Cresci, writing for The Guardian: The creator of a chatbot which overturned more than 160,000 parking fines and helped vulnerable people apply for emergency housing is now turning the bot to helping refugees claim asylum. The original DoNotPay, created by Stanford student Joshua Browder, describes itself as "the world's first robot lawyer", giving free legal aid to users through a simple-to-use chat interface. The chatbot, using Facebook Messenger, can now help refugees fill in an immigration application in the US and Canada. For those in the UK, it helps them apply for asylum support. The London-born developer worked with lawyers in each country, as well as speaking to asylum seekers whose applications have been successful. Browder says this new functionality for his robot lawyer is "long overdue". He told the Guardian: "I've been trying to launch this for about six months -- I initially wanted to do it in the summer. But I wanted to make sure I got it right because it's such a complicated issue. I kept showing it to lawyers throughout the process and I'd go back and tweak it.

Comments

Re:"Are you in danger"

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds like time to arrest another Foreign agent working against america's interests.

Great use of resources

[DeplorableCodeMonkey]

Let's see. He could have created programs aimed at helping get citizens of those countries access to national-level benefits plans. If he did that with the VA, he'd literally never have to buy another drink again whenever he visits the US because every veteran would be shoving alcohol in his face in gratitude.

But nope, gotta help them refugees. Even though many of them aren't actually refugees at all, but economic migrants.

Re:"Are you in danger"

[operagost]

People that represent themselves tend to talk about how much they like and appreciate America/Canada/UK, that they are grateful for the opportunities, and how they are working hard to contribute. In an asylum hearing, that is pretty much the opposite of what you should say.

So they should say they hate America, they are entitled to wealth, and they don't feel like working for it?

That does sound like the attitude of the average Democratic voter.

Re:The Muslim Threat

[interkin3tic]

Inbreeding between cousins? Mentally retarded? Violent? Enemy of decency and civilization? Hey man, last time I drove through Tennessee or any of the flyover states I was scared too, but let's not talk about hillbillies... (ahem) I mean "scots-irish" like that...