FTC Fines DoNotPay Over Misleading Claims of 'Robot Lawyer' (ftc.gov) 15
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has ordered DoNotPay to stop making deceptive claims about its AI chatbot advertised as "the world's first robot lawyer," in a ruling that requires the company to pay $193,000 in monetary relief. The final order, announced on February 11, follows FTC charges from September 2024 that DoNotPay's service failed to match the expertise of human lawyers when generating legal documents and giving advice.
The company had not tested its AI's performance against human lawyers or hired attorneys to verify the accuracy of its legal services, the FTC said. Under the settlement, approved by commissioners in a 5-0 vote, DoNotPay must notify customers who subscribed between 2021 and 2023 about the FTC action and cannot advertise its service as equivalent to a human lawyer without supporting evidence.
The company had not tested its AI's performance against human lawyers or hired attorneys to verify the accuracy of its legal services, the FTC said. Under the settlement, approved by commissioners in a 5-0 vote, DoNotPay must notify customers who subscribed between 2021 and 2023 about the FTC action and cannot advertise its service as equivalent to a human lawyer without supporting evidence.
No wait, politicians did (Score:1)
DoNotPay invented a Sucker Detector.
I have an idea (Score:2)
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"Oh shit, we got the robot Judge!"
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Meanwhile, Lrrr, ruler of Omicron Persei VIII will invade Earth over the cancellation of "Single Robot Lawyer"
I wonder (Score:2)
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Did the AI Chatbot pass the bar exam?
Probably with better scores than half the lawyers.
Did you think you could undercut lawyers and win? (Score:2)
Real lawyers didn't like the competition (Score:5, Insightful)
If you get a traffic ticket, soon thereafter your mailbox fills with solicitations from lawyers who will help you ostensibly "beat" the ticket. At least in my neck of the woods, all they actually do is go to court on your behalf, plead no contest, pay the fine and pocket the difference as profit.
Being a business owner, I also frequently get ads for companies who will file your annual report with the state (it's not a financial statement, it's literally just paying a flat fee and verifying that your business's name and address on file is accurate) as a paid service - something you can easily do yourself online.
The idea of providing a service as a middleman for some trivial task that might seem intimidating because you're dealing with the government isn't anything new, but it seems like there's no honor among thieves here. This app probably had the potential of cutting into the existing sucker market and they just couldn't have that. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of DoNotPay either, but I think this action by the FTC was less to genuinely protect consumers and more to just protect the existing businesses that are fleecing people over trivial "legal" tasks.
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If you get a traffic ticket, soon thereafter your mailbox fills with solicitations from lawyers who will help you ostensibly "beat" the ticket. At least in my neck of the woods, all they actually do is go to court on your behalf, plead no contest, pay the fine and pocket the difference as profit.
Being a business owner, I also frequently get ads for companies who will file your annual report with the state (it's not a financial statement, it's literally just paying a flat fee and verifying that your business's name and address on file is accurate) as a paid service - something you can easily do yourself online.
The idea of providing a service as a middleman for some trivial task that might seem intimidating because you're dealing with the government isn't anything new, but it seems like there's no honor among thieves here. This app probably had the potential of cutting into the existing sucker market and they just couldn't have that. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of DoNotPay either, but I think this action by the FTC was less to genuinely protect consumers and more to just protect the existing businesses that are fleecing people over trivial "legal" tasks.
This seems to be a peculiarly American thing.
Here in the UK, if I get sent an a fine then no-one knows about it besides me and the organisation sending me the (police, council, et al).
] I notice this when I fill out various visa waiver/entry forms, if I google CheckMig (Colombia) I get the official site... if I google ESTA (US) then you'll get ads and dodgy sites pretending to be the CPB site, so you need to make sure you're going to the actual cbp.gov site as they scam sites are fighting for top place
This is how you know AI is going to take jobs (Score:2)
AI in the absence of lawyers making it illegal is going to make lawyers go away. The only ones that'll stick around are the ones that do stuff like the Chewbacca defense where their purpose is to confuse juries with a slight of hand. But those are few and far between most of the lawyers out there making money are rank and file ones just like how most of the progra
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like how a geologist can't see the wooden bat you hit them with because they're blinded by the obsidian knife in your hand
What the fuck?
you know (Score:1)
This is the first time I read a comment and thought, wow this is particularly dumb, who wrote this. Now I can see why you have trolls on slashdot.
Anyway it's 100% not the case that "most of what [lawyers] do is just looking up case law". Generally lawyers are experts in the little area they practice in, that's why they are paid the big bucks. Especially when talking about trivial areas of law like DUIs or landlord tenant or whatever the fuck this "robot" does, no lawyer practicing in that area would spend e
Fined but (Score:1)
Better call Saul! (Score:2)
[...] DoNotPay's service failed to match the expertise of human lawyers when generating legal documents and giving advice.
Failed to match expertise from every human lawyer? There must be at least some human lawyers who provide worse advice.