a16z Podcast

The Robot Lawyer Resistance

Episode Summary

Should AI belong in the courtroom? Joshua Browder ventured to run an experiment where a robot lawyer would defend a court case. Looking to up the ante, he even offered $1m for a Supreme Court hearing! His experiment was met with a threat of 6 months jail time. Listen in for the full story.

Episode Notes

What happens when you don’t have the resources to fight for your rights? Whether it’s a major medical bill or a more minor parking ticket… even if you were in the right, is it easier to just… pay?

Well, Joshua Browder's answer is Do Not Pay! 

He’s built a thriving company of the same name, that helps consumers “fight corporations, beat bureaucracy, and sue anyone at the press of a button.” Through the power of technology, DoNotPay has resolved over 2m cases successfully and in this interview we get to hear where Browder hopes to take the organization, including his first-hand account of his recent plan to bring the robot lawyer into the physical courtroom.

 

Topics Covered:

00:00 - Introduction

01:51 - DoNotPay’s origin

03:09 - Surprising laws

05:49 - General counsel for consumers

06:54 - The role of AI and technology

09:26 - Ensuring quality counsel

13:19 - Prioritizing features

14:43 - Corporate pushback

17:11 - Reshaping the legal system

20:28 -  Entering the physical courtroom 

24:50 - Cross border possibilities

26:14 - Looping humans into modeling

29:01 - Deflationary impacts

30:05 - Recent pushback

33:13 - Is AI already writing law?

35:15 - Why is law so complex?

37:54 - Entering the Supreme Court

38:38 - Lawyer support

39:47 - Looking forward

43:07 - Building horizontal vs vertical

45:28 - Does this law exist?

 

Resources: 

DoNotPay: https://donotpay.com/

Find Josh on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jbrowder1

 

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