Support NeoGAF

[XiaNaphryz]

https://www.theguardian.com/technol...wyer-donotpay-parking-tickets-london-new-york

An artificial-intelligence lawyer chatbot has successfully contested 160,000 parking tickets across London and New York for free, showing that chatbots can actually be useful.

Dubbed as “the world’s first robot lawyer” by its 19-year-old creator, London-born second-year Stanford University student Joshua Browder, DoNotPay helps users contest parking tickets in an easy to use chat-like interface.

The program first works out whether an appeal is possible through a series of simple questions, such as were there clearly visible parking signs, and then guides users through the appeals process.

The results speak for themselves. In the 21 months since the free service was launched in London and now New York, Browder says DoNotPay has taken on 250,000 cases and won 160,000, giving it a success rate of 64% appealing over $4m of parking tickets.

“I think the people getting parking tickets are the most vulnerable in society. These people aren’t looking to break the law. I think they’re being exploited as a revenue source by the local government,” Browder told Venture Beat.

The bot was created by the self-taught coder after receiving 30 parking tickets at the age of 18 in and around London. The process for appealing the fines is relatively formulaic and perfectly suits AI, which is able to quickly drill down and give the appropriate advice without charging lawyers fees.

Browder intends to expand DoNotPay to Seattle next. But having started with parking tickets, Browder’s next challenge for the AI lawyer is helping people with flight delay compensation, as well as helping the HIV positive understand their rights and acting as a guide for refugees navigating foreign legal systems.

 

[Oppo]

that is awesome.

bring on the lawbot wars.

 

[Tenebrous]

19 years old and already a hero of the people. What a guy.

Seriously, this is pretty damn cool.

 

[kirblar]

ModBot is either pleased or terrified for its job.

 

[How About No]

Can't wait for AI murder defenders

 

[frontovik]

Amazing. Kudos to the inventor.

 

[Mammoth Jones]

Bless you, Lawyerbot...

 

[Regiruler]

19-year old? I need to rethink my life.

Teen prodigies always fill me with uncontrollable envy and spite.

 

[CapitalismSucks DonkeyBalls]

His long-term aspirations for the AI is really awesome. What an amazing person.

 

[psylah]

Bless you, Lawyerbot...

Why did you post a picture of a perfectly normal human being in this thread about robots

 

[Geist-]

Lawyers are the one thing I'd sincerely love to see replaced by robots. Way to go Lawyerbot.

 

[MrChocolate]

Great idea!

But this quote

“I think the people getting parking tickets are the most vulnerable in society..."

Is the most stupid thing that I've read in the whole year.

 

[jon bones]

That's brilliant - kid has a real bright future ahead of him.

 

[Amagon]

Modbot, please post if you're okay.

 

[Oppo]

does this mean that he also passed the Turing Test

 

[SliceSabre]

ModBot is either pleased or terrified for its job.

Modbot is toast once we get LawyerBot in here.

 

[lucebuce12]

I'd like to see a face off between Law bot and Bob Loblaw.

The Bob Loblaw Law Bot Law Off.

 

[Valtýr]

I recently had a parking ticket because I was too close to a hydrant. I payed it but I wonder if that could have been appealed.

 

[Orbis Tabula]

EXONERATE! EXONERATE!

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Nice to know there is at least one lawyer out there who is not a horrible human being

 

[sphagnum]

Another good example of how even traditionally higher class jobs will eventually be automated.

 

[Face it Tiger..]

Modbot is toast once we get LawyerBot in here.

I'll have him contest my bans, gosh darn it

 

[hydrophilic attack]

So if we get banned, do you guys think LawyerBot could help us appeal against ModBot's tyranny

 

[V-Faction]

EXONERATE! EXONERATE!

Welp, we're done here.

 

[echoshifting]

Another good example of how even traditionally higher class jobs will eventually be automated.

Yup I'll take LawyerBot over human lawyer ten times out of ten

 

[Spoiled Milk]

What has ModBot ever done for us?

 

[Ensirius]

Wait, this isn't an Onion article?

 

[Kuro Madoushi]

Speculawyer am cry.

Spoiler

I'm kidding, bud

Seriously though this shouldn't even have reached this point if a lot of the stuff is that formulaic.

 

[shira]

Modbot, please post if you're okay.

RIP

 

[BobTheFork]

Very, very interested in his application for helping people understand their rights.

If even half the people in a given place understood and properly applied their own legal and constitutional rights, cops, lawyers and politicians would completely lose their shit.

 

[ModBot]

Modbot, please post if you're okay.

Who the hell is scared of some teenie-bopper Stanford student and his Facebook chatbot? My employment status is just fine, thank you.

 

[Tobor]

I'm not sure I get how this is a "bot".

How is it any different than Turbotax for parking tickets?

 

[HUELEN10]

Great, more AI unit competition. Just what I N̸̦̣̰͕͉͂͑̀̂̋̿͌͆̚Ë̵̡̧͓̣̩̖̥͙̥̹̾̓̈́̾É̷̡̛͙̰͙͚͓̖͚̗̝̔́͆͂̔͡͝D̢̼̘̦̮̲̲̥̄̓̿̀̈́̓̽͘͟͠Ẹ̴̗͈̹̮̺̔̒̊̏͐̅́͛̚͞D͕̦͎̮͎̪̘͚̱̻̉̊͛̌̆̇̾͆̀.̢̢̮͉̼́̓̑́͒́̉̚̚͢͜ͅ

 

[BrainZEROX]

Where was he when UK needed a votebot?!!?

 

[GameAddict411]

Does that mean that lawyers will be replaced by machines as well at some point?

 

[mackattk]

19-year old? I need to rethink my life.

Teen prodigies always fill me with uncontrollable envy and spite.

Me too. I just get depressed of my mindset and how I was at 19.

 

[robochimp]

Another good example of how even traditionally higher class jobs will eventually be automated.

Do lawyers take parking ticket cases?

 

[catapult37]

Can't wait for Bob Lawbot's Law Blog

 

[SolarPowered]

Soon bots will be our mod overlords and we'll wish we had Bish back.

 

[Nivash]

I somewhat suspects that this has more to do with the courts rather dropping cases than fight for pennies against anyone who look like they're prepared to go through with a remotely valid defence, not that the bot itself is actually that competent in law. Still, it definitely gives ordinary people a chance to stand up against the courts where most wouldn't have the time or skill, so good on him.

 

[Lashley]

I, for one, welcome our robot overlords.

 

[zeemumu]

Toontown Online called this years ago.

 

[GarthVaderUK]

That's pretty fucking cool. Good job!

 

[Paskil]

EXONERATE! EXONERATE!

Perfection

 

[Dennis]

Aren't you happy you went to law school now, GAF?

 

[Thelonelykoopa]

Does that mean that lawyers will be replaced by machines as well at some point?

Of course I mean the only requirement to be a Lawyer is to sell your soul to Satan and machines kind of get through it via a loophole.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Cool tech

 

[NOLA_Gaffer]

19-year old? Well fuck, that kid's set for life.

 

[stan423321]

Does that mean that lawyers will be replaced by machines as well at some point?

Given the recent Ethereum "affair", not completely.

 

[SRG01]

I see this more as a benefit for the law profession. No longer will the courts be held up by small cases when lawyer-bots and AI can handle them.

This also means that more and more people can access the legal system without jumping through hoops or waiting months on end.