Robot on Court

A reader responded to my post - Will AI replace lawyer? (Yes - I got my first reader reply and I am excited!)

His question was - Isn't AI already representing client on some US court? While I know that some law firms are using AI to do analysis on due diligence and even bankruptcy filing, I didn't know that AI could go into court (how would that even work!). Therefore, I look into the issue.

I believe he is referring to the story of "DoNotPay," an AI-powered lawyer developed by a entrepreneur named Joshua Browder.

DoNotPay was originally developed as a way to help people fight parking tickets. DoNotPay uses AI to understand the details of a parking ticket and could help its users respond to the authority. Indeed, it is a great success and has helped users fight over thousands of tickets in cities across the United States and the United Kingdom.

DoNotPay even tried to appear in US court. Mr. Browder claims that DoNotPay, which runs on a smartphone, could listen to court arguments and formulate responses for the defendant. The founder claimed it could tell the defendant what to say in real time, through headphones.

Ultimately, Mr. Browder and DoNotPay pulled back due to potential legal risks (the prosecutor allegedly threaten to arrest the founder.)

On one hand, I thought, "Haha, you stupid AI, you could only handle parking ticket. And you cannot even appear in court."

Then, I realsie I am getting defensive (Okay - That's pathetic. Being defensive against a software.) This news, once again, shows that AI is capable of doing what lawyers could do. It is only the regulations that have been lagging behind. And AI will only get better, at a speed that me and other lawyers could never catch up with.

I still hold on to my belief that AI could not replace lawyer. Fighting against parking ticket is one thing, do you want to listen to a headphone fighting for your kids' custody? (Let's hope that no one ever has to fight for that.)

Have you ever had a boss who can't use a computer properly? (While I joined the legal profession not too long ago, I am fortunate enough to meet a few.) With AI improving exponentially, if lawyers (and all other professions) do not think about how to work smarter with technology, you surely will be left behind in the legal stone age. Do you want to be the lawyer who cannot edit a file on Word?