DoNotPay’s plan to put an AI ‘robot lawyer’ in court

Update (October 2026): The courtroom test described below never took place. The AI was meant to coach a defendant contesting a speeding ticket, but on 25 January 2023, about a month before this article was published, DoNotPay chief executive Joshua Browder dropped the plan. He said state bar officials had warned him of possible prosecution and jail time. In September 2024 the US Federal Trade Commission charged DoNotPay with making deceptive claims about its “robot lawyer”, and a final order announced in February 2025 required the company to pay $193,000 and notify past subscribers.

According to reports from a credible source, an AI language model programmed by the startup DoNotPay will be used to help a defendant defend himself in a court case. Rather, the AI will act as an advisor, telling the defendant what to say during the trial. The incident is set to take place in February 2023, but the date, the name of the defendant and the location of the court have not been disclosed.

AI has played a significant role in the legal industry. This is the first time the world will see it take the side of a defendant. AI models, such as e-discovery, have been used in the scanning and procurement of information relevant to the case at hand, while some AI models can advise, predict and forecast the end point of a court case, although they have only been able to achieve 70.2% accuracy.

AI's ability to defend a case in the real world is something the legal industry and the world are now ready to see. The AI software will be installed on a smartphone and will instruct the defendant on what to say after listening to the court speeches through an earpiece.

In addition, the legal industry is only willing to use AI in its work if it proves to be transparent and fair in its judgment, without discrimination.

Read more: U.S. judge says AI-generated artwork cannot be copyrighted.