DoNotPay "robot lawyer" and FTC order

What happened

DoNotPay, Inc. marketed its service as "the world's first robot lawyer." In early 2023 its chief executive, Joshua Browder, announced that a defendant contesting a traffic ticket in California would appear at a hearing set for February 22, 2023 wearing smart glasses that recorded the proceeding. An AI system would generate arguments in real time and relay them to the defendant through an earpiece. NPR reported that the system drew on ChatGPT and DaVinci text generators.

The plan did not proceed. Browder told NPR: "Multiple state bars have threatened us. One even said a referral to the district attorney's office and prosecution and prison time would be possible." He also acknowledged that recording audio during court proceedings violates federal court rules and is often prohibited in state courts. The company withdrew from the courtroom project.

What the tribunal did

No court ruled on the planned appearance, because it never took place. The regulatory record is the Federal Trade Commission's. In September 2024 the FTC announced a complaint and proposed consent order as part of a broader enforcement sweep. The complaint, issued in final form in January 2025 under Docket C-4812, alleged false or unsubstantiated performance claims and false claims under Section 5(a) of the FTC Act. It alleged that DoNotPay "has not employed attorneys and has not retained attorneys" to test its law-related features.

The Commission voted 5-0 to finalize the order, which it announced on February 11, 2025. The order requires DoNotPay to pay $193,000, to notify consumers who subscribed between 2021 and 2023 about the limits of its law-related features, and to stop claiming its service can substitute for a professional service without evidence to support the claim.

Where it stands

The FTC order is final. The complaint addresses the company's marketing and products and does not mention the traffic-court plan. The court and county of the planned 2023 hearing were not named in reporting. The 2023 episode and the 2025 order are separate events, recorded together here because both concern the same claim: that a system could stand in for a lawyer before a tribunal.

The obligation it engaged

The planned appearance would have placed a system's output directly into live argument, with no professional between the generator and the court. That is the situation non-delegation, Clause 2, addresses: the argument would have been composed by the system in real time, and neither the defendant nor anyone else could have checked it before it was spoken, contrary to Clause 4. The plan also depended on recording the proceeding, which engages custody, Clause 6, since court rules restrict what may be captured and transmitted from a courtroom.

The FTC record concerns a different question: whether a claimed capability was tested before it was sold. The complaint's allegation that no attorneys tested the output describes the absence of checking before adoption.

Sources

• Federal Trade Commission · February 11, 2025
  FTC Finalizes Order with DoNotPay That Prohibits Deceptive 'AI Lawyer' Claims, Imposes Monetary Relief, and Requires Notice to Past Subscribers
• Federal Trade Commission · January 14, 2025
  Complaint, In the Matter of DoNotPay, Inc.
• NPR · January 25, 2023
  A robot was scheduled to argue in court, then came the jail threats

What could not be confirmed

The court and county of the planned February 2023 traffic hearing are not named in sources opened. FTC documents give slightly different January 2025 dates for the complaint (January 14), the vote (January 16) and the posted final documents (January 17). The Decision and Order was located but not read in full.