DoNotPay, originally promoted as the “world’s first robot lawyer,” was found by the FTC to have made deceptive claims without testing its AI chatbot’s output against a human lawyer’s level. DoNotPay did not employ attorneys to verify outputs or validate legal claims, leading to an FTC settlement where the AI startup agreed to pay $193,000 and warn consumers of limitations. DoNotPay, which started as a free service for challenging parking tickets in 2015, expanded into various legal areas, defending its lawyer-replacing model despite concerns. The FTC’s actions against DoNotPay are part of a larger crackdown on deceptive AI claims.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/09/startup-behind-worlds-first-robot-lawyer-to-pay-193k-for-false-ads-ftc-says/