The world's first AI-powered "robot lawyer" won't be making a public appearance anytime soon.
Joshua Browder, the CEO of New York Startup DoNotPay, recently announced that his company's AI-powered robot lawyer, DoNotPay A.I., will not be going to court to take part in the proceedings.
Browder established DoNotPay in 2015 to help people contest parking tickets, but had since expanded to include helping people with various legal issues, from consumer protection to even immigration rights, per Pagan Research.
DoNotPay AI Court Debut Denied
Browder announced through his official Twitter account that he is pulling DoNotPay's AI from representing a defendant trying to contest a traffic ticket in the courtroom on Feb. 22 due to threats from State Bar prosecutors.
He mentioned that should he push through with his plan on representing the defendant, they would put him in jail for six months with criminal charges, per Browder's interview with NPR.
Here's how the proceedings would go: the defendant would wear smart glasses that record court proceedings and dictate responses into their ear from a small speaker embedded into it. These responses are generated by a system relying on a few AI text generators, including ChatGPT and DaVinci.
The defendant would then repeat the AI's responses to the judge to move the proceedings along, hopefully gaining some sort of win in the court.
Browder then announced this event in a tweet he posted on Jan. 21, saying that "history would be made" on Feb. 22 because DoNotPay's AI would represent someone in a US courtroom.
However, the news eventually spread and reached various state bar officials, which sent angry letters threatening Browder should he not pull out his DoNotPay AI from the case.
Browder even said that a referral to the district attorney's office, prosecution, and prison time would be possible if he did not pull back.
Meanwhile, Engadget reports that multiple state bar associations threatened DoNotPay, with one even stating that Browder could face a six-month imprisonment if he did not pull back DoNotPay's AI from the case.
State bar officials and associations do have an argument. A CBS News report mentioned that DoNotPay's AI is illegal in most courtrooms and that in some states, all parties must consent to be recorded - an act that the smart glasses must do to relay responses.
The thought of being imprisoned spooked Browder into pulling back his DoNotPay AI from the case, with him saying that even if he wouldn't go to prison, the threat of criminal charges was enough for him to give up the case.
What's Next For DoNotPay?
While Browder decided to pull back his DoNotPay AI from the case, it doesn't spell its end. The DoNotPay CEO will instead focus that AI on helping people with issues related to consumer rights, specifically lowering medical bills, canceling subscriptions, and disputing credit reports, among others.
He also hopes that AI could eventually help people in the courtroom, allowing those who couldn't afford a lawyer to defend themselves in court without worrying about payment.
