DoNotPay Has to Pay Up Over ‘World’s First Robot Lawyer’

DoNotPay, the AI company best known for helping users cancel unwanted subscriptions and fight parking tickets, has reached a settlement with the FTC over an AI chatbot that was advertised as “the world’s first robot lawyer.” The AI lawyer didn’t live up to its claims and DoNotPay never properly tested the chatbot tool, according to the FTC. In fact, the company reportedly never even hired a real human lawyer to work on the product.

DoNotPay has agreed to pay $193,000 and will be required to send a notice to any previous customers who used the AI lawyer from 2021 to 2023 warning about the limitations of the subscription service. The settlement will also “prohibit the company from making claims about its ability to substitute for any professional service without evidence to back it up,” according to a statement Wednesday from the FTC.

The AI lawyer billed itself as a tool that could be used for things like suing for assault in small claims court and drafting a cease and desist letter. The AI tool also created legal documents like NDAs, business contracts, prenuptial agreements, and custody agreements, according to the FTC. DoNotPay had initially planned to use its AI lawyer in a physical courtroom but shut down that plan in early 2023 after receiving threats from State Bar associations.

The FTC complaint, which is available to read online, is filled with some rather odd details, including a quote that appeared on the DoNotPay website that purported to be from the Los Angeles Times: “What this robot lawyer can do is astonishingly similar—if not more—to what human lawyers do.” In reality, the quote was from the Los Angeles Times High School Insider website, a user-generated content platform for high school students, according to the FTC.

The tool also wasn’t tested in a way that any reasonable person might expect, according to the FTC complaint:

DoNotPay employees have not tested the quality and accuracy of the legal documents and advice generated by most of the Service’s law-related features. DoNotPay has not employed attorneys and has not retained attorneys, let alone attorneys with the relevant legal expertise, to test the quality and accuracy of the Service’s law-related features.

The founder of the AI company, Joshua Browder, has previously said DoNotPay wants to, “replace the $200-billion-dollar legal industry with artificial intelligence.” Browder dropped out of college in 2018 as part of the Thiel Fellowship, a program started by tech investor Peter Thiel that gives people money to drop out of college and start a business.

For its part, DoNotPay was quick to note the company has not admitted any liability in the settlement with the FTC.

“DoNotPay is pleased to have worked constructively with the FTC to settle this case and fully resolve these issues, without admitting liability,” the company said in a statement credited to an unnamed “DoNotPay Spokeswoman.”

Gizmodo asked about the allegations that it didn’t hire a lawyer to check the work of its AI attorney, but those questions weren’t addressed by the company in its statement. It’s not clear if the statement was generated by AI or written by a human.

“The complaint relates to the usage of a few hundred customers some years ago (out of millions of people), with services that have long been discontinued,” the statement continued. “DoNotPay retained Maneesha Mithal, former Associate Director at the FTC, as outside counsel, who has been incredibly helpful in handling this matter.”

“Using AI tools to trick, mislead, or defraud people is illegal,” Khan said in a statement posted to the agency’s website.

“The FTC’s enforcement actions make clear that there is no AI exemption from the laws on the books,” Khan continued. “By cracking down on unfair or deceptive practices in these markets, FTC is ensuring that honest businesses and innovators can get a fair shot and consumers are being protected.”