Robot Gives Out Free Legal Advice for People In the UK

Joshua Browder, a 19-year-old Stanford University student, has created a the first robot lawyer in the UK. Last year, the economics and computer science student built a website called DoNotPay, to help UK residents appeal unfair parking tickets. According to Mashable, DoNotPay got so much positive feedback—and so many requests for different kinds of legal advice—that Browder decided to expand the project. (Eventually, he plans to bring the service to the U.S.)

"The robot can currently handle parking ticket appeals, payment protection insurance (PPI) claims and delayed flights/trains," Browder tells Mashable. "It can also answer some general legal questions ('I can't afford my ticket. What do I do?'). I am ultimately looking to give it as much functionality as possible in the spirit of trying to replace the large group of exploitative lawyers."

Browder built a robot that can learn and compare phrases, allowing it to converse with impressive fluency. It can not only comprehend users' queries and provide legal advice, but can even generate appeals. The legal advice doled out by the robot comes from legal advice gathered by Browder.

“If the robot can't answer, it provides a generic and helpful message offering the user some sample phrases or the option of contacting me directly," Browder explains. "On the backend, whenever the robot can't answer, I get notified and I work as quickly as possible to add functionality for any future requests of a similar nature."

Check out Browder’s demonstration video above, or test out the robot lawyer for yourself on DoNotPay.

[h/t: Mashable]

Banner Image Credit: Joshua Browder, YouTube