We might remember 2023 as the year of the Robot Lawyer.
An artificial intelligence-based "lawyer" program is set to be used in an actual U.S. court case in February.
The app runs on a smartphone and listens to all speech in the courtroom, then offers legal advice to the defendant via an earpiece, including suggestions on what to say during their hearing.
The "robot lawyer" was developed by DoNotPay, which previously developed AI-based apps used to challenge parking tickets.
The ticket at the center of the case was issued for speeding, but the location of the court and the name of the defendant are not being released, New Scientist reported.
If the robot lawyer loses the case, DoNotPay will pay the ticket and cover any fines, the company's founder and CEO, Joshua Browder, told CBS News.
"What we are trying to do is automate consumer rights," Browder said. "New technologies typically fall into the hands of big companies first, and our goal is put it in hands of the people first."
The company is hoping to eventually have the app replace some lawyers altogether, making legal representation free for those who can't afford it, Browder told CBS. He acknowledged that the road to that happening is still very long and full of challenges, as the technology is illegal in many courtrooms that don't allow electronic devices. Still, he said it's time to change the system.
"There'll still be a lot of good lawyers out there who may be arguing in the European Court of Human Rights, but a lot of lawyers are just charging way too much money to copy and paste documents and I think they will definitely be replaced, and they should be replaced," Browder told New Scientist.
Browder is so confident in the app's ability, he issued a million dollar challenge on Twitter.
"DoNotPay will pay any lawyer or person $1,000,000 with an upcoming case in front of the United States Supreme Court to wear AirPods and let our robot lawyer argue the case by repeating exactly what it says," he said, adding, "go big or go home!"
"We have upcoming cases in municipal (traffic) court next month. But the haters will say 'traffic court is too simple,'" Browder continued. "So we are making this serious offer, contingent on us coming to a formal agreement and all rules being followed. ... We are open to counteroffers and negotiation!"
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