Law firm sues world’s first LAWYER robot for having ‘no law degree’

“robot” who was set to go down in history for advising the first defendant in court with artificial intelligence (AI) is now accused of working without a law degree.

AI-powered app DoNotPay is facing accusations that it is “masquerading as a licensed professional” in a class action lawsuit filed by US law firm Edelson.

The chatbot-style tool focuses on making legal information and “self-help” available to support consumers struggling with large corporations.

But Chicago-based law firm Edelson said the service was “illegal” and the firm “non-standard” legal documents.

In a file released by the California Supreme Court for the District of San Francisco, the petitioner said, “Unfortunately for its clients, DoNotPay is not really a robot, a lawyer, or a law firm. DoNotPay does not have a legal background, is not banned in any jurisdiction, and is not controlled by any lawyer.”

AI-powered DoNotPay has been accused of “masquerading” as a licensed lawyer in a lawsuit.

Joshua Browder (pictured), founder of DoNotPay, says the claims are baseless.

Former Stanford University student Joshua Browder. founded DoNotPay in 2015 and was originally intended to appeal against parking tickets in the UK..

HOW THE WORLD’S FIRST ROBOT LAWYER WORKS

The technology was developed in a chat format, where a bot asks questions to find out the details of the case.

In relation to a parking ticket appeal, questions such as “Did you or someone you know drive a car?” or “Was it difficult to read the parking signs?”

After analyzing these answers, the robot decides if you have the right to appeal, if so, it will generate an appeal letter that can be submitted to the court.

The company has since expanded to the US and is now able to advise on a range of other issues, including flight delays, workplace rights, and misleading advertising claims.

Bye DoNotPay should have gone down in history for advising the first defendant with a robotic lawyer in court, this was not implemented due to threats of jail time.

China was first used artificial intelligence in the courtroom.

In January, Mr. Browder tweeted: “Bad news: after receiving threats from State Bar prosecutors, it seems likely that they will put me in jail for 6 months if I follow through and bring a robot lawyer into a real courtroom.” .

Jonathan Faridian, who filed Edelson’s lawsuit against DoNotPay, added that he personally used DoNotPay’s services to file a discrimination complaint, small claims, and a range of other legal documents.

Mr. Faridian said he “believed he was buying legal documents and services that would be usable from a lawyer who was competent to provide them” but did not receive it.

The March 3 file continued: “Unfortunately, DoNotPay is missing the point. Providing legal services to the public without being a lawyer, or even under the supervision of a lawyer, is reckless and dangerous. And it has real implications for the customers it harms.

“One customer who posted an online review used DoNotPay’s legal services to challenge two parking tickets. According to him, his fines actually increased because DoNotPay did not respond to the subpoena. The customer then deleted their account, but DoNotPay continued to charge a subscription fee.

The DoNotPay service then overruled another customer’s arguments in a parking ticket dispute. Where she intended to prove she was not at fault, DoNotPay services instead pleaded guilty and the buyer had to pay a $114 fine.

“At the time of writing, the DoNotPay website still calls itself the ‘World’s First Robot Lawyer’ and continues to offer these legal products to the public, casting doubt on its intent to stop masquerading as a licensed medical practitioner.”

The founder of DoNotPay tweeted that “America’s richest class action lawyer won’t bully him,” referring to Jay Edelson, who founded the firm.

The Edelson lawsuit also stated that the founder of DoNotPay is not a lawyer.

In response, Mr. Browder tweeted that “the claims are without merit,” adding that DoNotPay would not be “intimidated by America’s richest class-action lawyer,” referring to Jay Edelson, who founded the firm.

He said, “Over and over again, only lawyers win. So I wanted to do something about it by building a DoNotPay lawyer robot to empower consumers to fight corporations on their own. This put my goal on the back and Edelson launched a campaign to stop us.

“Usually the best answer would be to keep quiet/calm down. Edelson successfully sued Google, Amazon and Apple for billions of dollars. The NYT calls him “the most dangerous lawyer in Silicon Valley.” But DoNotPay isn’t about to be bullied by America’s richest class-action lawyer.

“So we fight back! We have receipts, we have nothing to hide, and we will defend ourselves. We can even use our robot lawyer in this case.”

Jay Edelson said the firm “understood” that DoNotPay would try to “detract” from its misconduct after the lawsuit was filed.

He said insider: “When we filed the lawsuit, we realized that Josh and DoNotPay would try to divert attention from their wrongdoing in any way they could. They attacked our client and now they’re attacking me.”

MailOnline has reached out to Edelson and DoNotPay for comment.