HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

Meet the Robot Lawyer Fighting Fines, Fees, and Red Tape

Views:898
@ReasonVids

Joshua Browder is trying to cut red tape and upend the legal services industry with DoNotPay, a company that's running a "denial of service attack on the legal system."

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/reasontv
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magazine/
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason
Subscribe to our podcast at iTunes: https://goo.gl/az3a7a

Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.

----------------

Joshua Browder is trying to upend the legal services industry. His company, DoNotPay, has built an AI-powered chatbot that interviews users about their legal problems in plain English and then uses their answers to complete and submit legal paperwork on their behalf.

Browder describes DoNotPay as "the world's first robot lawyer," and believes that the system he's building will one day be able to address the majority of legal issues.

"DoNotPay will have succeeded if the word 'lawyer' is completely removed from the dictionary for average people," Browder told Reason.

The 21-year-old entrepreneur from the UK, who taught himself to code by watching YouTube videos, lives and works with his eight-person team out of the same Palo Alto house that Mark Zuckerberg rented during his first summer in California building Facebook. Browder says the legal industry is so ripe for disruption through software because most services involve nothing more than standardized processes and boilerplate language.

DoNotPay initially focused on fighting parking tickets because Browder views them as an unfair tax on the poor. He says DoNotPay has succeeded in overturning citations about half the time, saving users $16 million in fines over its first three years. Now, operating on just over $1 million in venture capital funding, the start-up is expanding to cover a broad range of legal problems.

DoNotPay's app, which is in development, will monitors users' accounts and gets them money back whenever the law allows. It can automatically rebook plane tickets when prices drop, request refunds when banks charge illegal overdraft fees, and help users reclaim security deposits from shady landlords.

Browder says DoNotPay will never charge for any legal services, and he doesn't need much cash to continue expanding and thus has time to figure out a revenue source. This allows the company to serve clients who can't afford to hire lawyers, such as refugees seeking asylum and homeless people applying for public housing in the UK. DoNotPay is also working on a service that helps navigate the US visa process.

"These processes are so bureaucratic that if you have no resources at all, it really is impossible to get the help you need," says Browder. And as long as lawyers have an incentive to keep laws complex and their services expensive, he thinks it will take a bottom-up approach to make the system fair. DoNotPay has built bots that can query automated email, chat, and telephone systems thousands of times to, for example, get users a quick appointment at the DMV.

Browder calls this tactic "DDoSing the legal system to make it better." Beyond helping his users navigate bureaucracy, Browder hopes to flip the script by making legal complexity more of a pain for governments than for average people, and thereby incentivize lawmakers to slash red tape in general.

"There's a $200 billion legal industry at the moment," Browder says, "and DoNotPay will hopefully one day make it free for everyone."

For full text and downloadable versions, go to https://reason.com/reasontv/2018/09/19/robot-lawyer-fights-fines-fees-red-tape

Produced by Justin Monticello. Camera by Monticello and Zach Weissmueller. Music by Gunnar Olsen, Matt Harris, Geographer, Text Me Records & Bobby Renz, and Silent Partner.

Image credit: ID 126279773 © Andrey Popov | Dreamstime.com

libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
,
joshua browder
,
donotpay
,
technology
,
silicon valley
,
justin monticello
,
robot
,
lawyer
,
artificial intelligence
,
chatbot
,
automation
,
law
,
legal services
    Thumbnail for Can You Fight Radical Islam with Western Bestsellers?21:37
    Can You Fight Radical Islam with Western Bestsellers?
    ReasonVids
    887 views
    Thumbnail for Mannerbund-By God We'll Have Our Home Again2:49
    Mannerbund-By God We'll Have Our Home Again
    bestofvoatxyz
    698 views
    Thumbnail for The Canuckistan Gun Grabber | Grunt Speak Shorts21:54
    The Canuckistan Gun Grabber | Grunt Speak Shorts
    Terrence Popp
    783 views
    Thumbnail for In The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Everyone Just Wants to Be Left the F*ck Alone4:12
    In The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Everyone Just Wants to Be Left the F*ck Alone
    ReasonVids
    923 views
    Thumbnail for The Plan to Create a Giant, Privately Funded Nature Reserve by Selling Beef5:33
    The Plan to Create a Giant, Privately Funded Nature Reserve by Selling Beef
    ReasonVids
    984 views
    Thumbnail for Stoopid!0:14
    Stoopid!
    AOUisgay
    465 views
    Thumbnail for DEA Agent Joins Marijuana Industry10:08
    DEA Agent Joins Marijuana Industry
    ReasonVids
    1012 views
    Thumbnail for  The Low IQ...1:06
    The Low IQ...
    AOU
    2041 views
    Thumbnail for DON'T BREAK THE $19 DOLLAR AMAZON SKATEBOARD! | Braille Skateboarding12:56
    DON'T BREAK THE $19 DOLLAR AMAZON SKATEBOARD! | Braille Skateboarding
    invidious
    416 views
    Thumbnail for Daulton Varsho has left us SPEECHLESS! 🤯 | MLB0:19
    Daulton Varsho has left us SPEECHLESS! 🤯 | MLB
    invidious
    81 views
    Thumbnail for What about Sweden, which seems like a great place to live?2:34
    What about Sweden, which seems like a great place to live?
    ReasonVids
    927 views
    Thumbnail for What is an Astronaut's Life Worth?: An Interview with Robert Zubrin3:52
    What is an Astronaut's Life Worth?: An Interview with Robert Zubrin
    ReasonVids
    998 views
    Thumbnail for Britain Must Wake Up or Die8:48
    Britain Must Wake Up or Die
    AmericanRenaissance
    1586 views
    Thumbnail for Tell me your jewish without telling me your jewish0:09
    Tell me your jewish without telling me your jewish
    bestofvoatxyz
    815 views
    Thumbnail for Police Shoot, Kill 80-Year-Old Man In His Own Bed, Don't Find the Drugs They Were Looking For7:40
    Police Shoot, Kill 80-Year-Old Man In His Own Bed, Don't Find the Drugs They Were Looking For
    ReasonVids
    999 views
    Thumbnail for Collective Bargaining and the Bottom Line: Q&A with Heritage Foundation's James Sherk5:36
    Collective Bargaining and the Bottom Line: Q&A with Heritage Foundation's James Sherk
    ReasonVids
    992 views
    Thumbnail for ATTN POLICE: Enough Already with the Jaywalking Stings! Don't Cops Have Better Things To Do?3:08
    ATTN POLICE: Enough Already with the Jaywalking Stings! Don't Cops Have Better Things To Do?
    ReasonVids
    974 views
    Thumbnail for Turn that shit down, bitch! 1:01
    Turn that shit down, bitch!
    bestofvoatxyz
    558 views
    Thumbnail for Democrat Jared Polis: Most Libertarian Governor?6:25
    Democrat Jared Polis: Most Libertarian Governor?
    ReasonVids
    1059 views
    Thumbnail for Grooming gangs attacking Irish people. More in comments.0:20
    Grooming gangs attacking Irish people. More in comments.
    bestofvoatxyz
    593 views
    Thumbnail for Fight Over Chair0:47
    Fight Over Chair
    bestofvoatxyz
    763 views
    Thumbnail for Dangus on his way to work in the mornings0:37
    Dangus on his way to work in the mornings
    bestofupgoat
    236 views
    Thumbnail for Ep. 2488a -  [CB] Cannot Control Inflation, Panic, Their System Is Unraveling | X22report16:39
    Ep. 2488a - [CB] Cannot Control Inflation, Panic, Their System Is Unraveling | X22report
    bitchute_topics
    1147 views
    Thumbnail for Can Muslims be Free Marketeers?14:36
    Can Muslims be Free Marketeers?
    ReasonVids
    885 views
    Thumbnail for The Greedy Cup Has Become Even More Devious | The Action Lab6:11
    The Greedy Cup Has Become Even More Devious | The Action Lab
    invidious
    329 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
,
joshua browder
,
donotpay
,
technology
,
silicon valley
,
justin monticello
,
robot
,
lawyer
,
artificial intelligence
,
chatbot
,
automation
,
law
,
legal services
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle