News from the world’s first robot lawyer

News from the world’s first robot lawyer

New York, 27.3.2020

The British entrepreneur Joshua Browder has published a new service under his DoNotPay chatbot, which in the midst of the coronavirus crisis identifies the payments made by users on their bills and asks for renewal of the payment.

The new service, which is currently only available in the US, analyses a person’s rental, credit card, utility and other bills and automatically identifies those that could be eligible for a payment deferral and/or fee waiver. He then contacts the appropriate company or organization to obtain a positive result with a „compassionate and courteous request“. If this is denied, he will send a follow-up letter, citing local and state laws.

„For example, for states that do not have specific COVID-19 protection, it will use long-standing rental laws to challenge inappropriate charges. It will then supplement these existing regulations with new measures, such as the California State Implementing Regulation,“ Browder told Digital Trends. „Finally, he will use the city’s laws to cement the case, including the upcoming New York City proposal that allows people to use their deposit to pay rent. „There are many laws to protect people, but unfortunately the average citizen doesn’t know how they apply to them,“ Browder claims.

Browder, a 24-year-old Stanford graduate, introduced the DoNotPay chatbot to allow motorists to automatically object to parking tickets. In 2018, he expanded it to include AI-enabled legal advice, including the preparation of documents for legal proceedings. On his website he is referred to as „the world’s first robot lawyer“.