'World's First Robot Lawyer' Now Available In All 50 States (theverge.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: A chatbot that provides free legal counsel using AI is now available in all 50 states starting today. This is following its success in New York, Seattle, and the UK, where it was invented by British entrepreneur Joshua Browder. Browder, who calls his invention "the world's first robot lawyer," estimates the bot has helped defeat 375,000 parking tickets in a span of two years. Browder, a junior at Stanford University, tells The Verge via Twitter that his chatbot could potentially experience legal repercussions from the government, but he is more concerned with competing with lawyers.

"The legal industry is more than a 200 billion dollar industry, but I am excited to make the law free," says Browder. "Some of the biggest law firms can't be happy!" Browder believes that his chatbot could also save government officials time and money. "Everybody can win," he says, "I think governments waste a huge amount of money employing people to read parking ticket appeals. DoNotPay sends it to them in a clear and easy to read format."

Comments

"Robot Lawyer" Output

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a simple form. This is what attracts VC money and articles in major publications for this student? What the fuck.

To Whom it May Concern,

I received a letter claiming I committed a moving traffic violation in LOCATION on DATE.
As per the instructions, I am writing to plead 'not guilty' to this charge. Although this option is said to result in this matter going to court; it is my suggestion that the charges simply be dropped. This suggestion comes out of respect for tax payers, and my request that their hard earned money not be wasted in such proceedings.

As there is no evidence of my involvement with this alleged 'crime', as well as the fact that I am not granted my 6th amendment right to face my 'accuser' (a camera); I see no way the government could prove my guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. I also see find no legal requirement for me to implicate someone else in this process, as it is the government's responsibility to prove a person's guilt. It is also my 5th amendment right to remain silent on the
matter.

If it is the government's decision to move forward in this matter, I would request copies of any evidence the prosecution may have of my involvement in the 'offense'; as well as, all maintenance records for the camera(s) involved.

Sincerely,
NAME

Misleading title

[kainosnous]

The site is little more than a series of guided form letters. It might be a useful site, but it's certainly not a "robot lawyer". It is scarcely even a chat bot.

Misleading headline

[mysidia]

This is no Robot Lawyer. I am not sure exactly what it is to be called,
but a Robot Lawyer it is not. It is more like a "Robotic/Automated assistant for a small selection of certain legal matters that gives you a canned form or canned letter to use for the simplest situations", and
Its effectiveness depends partly on flying under the radar, because lawyers happen to often write the same kind of verbiage, and the letters they use can "Bluff the prosecution" out of pursuing further actions, that is, cause the authorities to skip over you because you're too much trouble and they'd actually have to do work to pursue you, since the canned forms make them THINK you have actually bothered with the expense to hiring lawyers, causing them to back off to avoid extra costs or adverse ruling against them.... So you can get the penalty cancelled by the court, and then the government workers don't bother to pursue the matter further, since it's not worth it in their minds.

COUGH. If they DID choose to pursue the matter, your Robotic "Lawyer" would be quickly outgunned.