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TOP TREND 2023, AI: WE OWN YOU—CAN A ROBOT LAWYER GET YOU OFF THE HOOK IN TRAFFIC COURT?

January 17, 2023January 17, 2023
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TOP TREND 2023, AI: WE OWN YOU—CAN A ROBOT LAWYER GET YOU OFF THE HOOK IN TRAFFIC COURT?

If a person who serves as their own lawyer has a fool for a client, what about a person who employs a robot?

That reality is here, via an AI “Robot Lawyer,” the brainchild of a company called DoNotPay.

The test case involves a speeding ticket case somewhere in the U.S., according to Gizmodo. An AI app trained in relevant laws and legal procedures will instruct the defendant via an earpiece on how to respond, to try to avoid the fees and repercussions of being convicted of the violation.

Company founder and CEO Joshua Browder said the test case is set for February, and a second case involving a Zoom court appearance of a defendant, is also in the works.

Phones and other internet-connected devices are restricted in many courtrooms. Commenting to Gizmodo, Browder said his company is relying on a loophole in the jurisdiction in question, which permits the use of Apple AirPods.

When asked if the AI-assistance would be disclosed to the court during the hearing, Browder told the tech news outlet “Definitely not.”

DoNotPay will pay any fees incurred should their Robot Lawyer come up short. Needless to say, the company has garnered quite a bit of media attention in announcing an AI first.

AI Lawyers…and Judges, Juries and Lawmakers?

The Trends Journal has been closely following and predicting the mainstreaming of AI technology, as well as examining the ramifications for humans.

Robot Lawyer is an example of how far AI technology is evolving to the point where it can step in and provide sophisticated services.

In this case, the technology must accurately process natural language, and the often not very natural language of a legal proceeding. It must evaluate legal options and alternatives, in order to offer the kind of “best advice” that human attorneys can give only via a combination of education, experience, attention to social cues and other factors.

Choosing a relatively narrow niche is how DoNotPay is approaching the optimization and introduction of their technology.

But the prospect of AI increasingly not just assisting humans, but outperforming them in “human” endeavors, is something that would seem to deserve contemplation, while AI technology is not yet ingrained and pervasive.

Within the past few years, many industries and occupations have begun to see just how real the competition from AI can be.

Technology has quickly moved from robotics doing heavy-lifting and monotonous repetitive tasks on factory lines, to AI being used by scientists to craft genetic innovations at the edges of synthetic biology and bio-pharma.

Writers and artists have met AI “assistants” via creative content creation platforms like OpenAI’s DALL-E 2 image creator and ChatGPT 3, and apps like Closers Copy. Software coders are using AI to generate code.

Legislators are being enticed to utilize AI in formulating policies. (See “THE AI LEGISLATOR YOU DIDN’T VOTE FOR,” 23 Aug 2022.)

And some of the most advanced—and secretive—AI projects involve battlefield applications. (See “DARPA WANTS TO LEAD “THIRD WAVE” OF WEAPONIZED AI” and “WAR, PROFIT AND TRANSHUMANISM: THE QUEST FOR THE ‘SECOND QUANTUM REVOLUTION’”.)

Many people remain unaware that the more advanced AI systems are designed to self learn and improve.  Long ago, futurists predicted that this ability would lead to a moment of “Singularity,” where sentient Artificial Intelligence would reach the point where it surpasses human intelligence in every respect.

Some technologists say that moment may be only a decade or two away.

It’s clear that if humans don’t do some deep thinking right now regarding AI development, AI may soon be thinking more deeply about it than humans.

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