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Free Chatbot Lawyer Overturned 160,000 Parking Tickets In London And New York

Joshua Browder, a 19-year-old Stanford University student, developed a free chatbot that could contest parking tickets.
Parking tickets on a vehicle in Durham, North Carolina 1 photo
Photo: Wikipedia and Flickr user Ildar Sagdejev (Specious)
In just 21 months, his free service helped New York and London residents overturn 160,000 parking tickets. These tickets would have cost their recipients over $4 million, so it is evident why the users of the free service called DoNotPay are enthusiastic, while authorities are not pleased.

DoNotPay is a chatbot lawyer, which asks users various questions in a conversation that follows a chat style. Before promising any chance of success, the program must determine whether the parking penalty could be overturned.

The user is asked the same questions that a human lawyer might use to make a compelling case against a penalty, but it does it for free.

In almost two years of activity, the free service has taken on 250,000 cases, out of which 160,000 were won. For a free, virtual, lawyer, a success rate of 64% is excellent if you ask us.

Like many success stories, DoNotPay started when its creator wanted to fix a problem he encountered - receiving 30 parking tickets at the age of 18, when he lived in London.

Browder is a self-taught coder, and he decided to contest the fines without a lawyer’s assistance. Once his method work, he started sharing it with friends and acquaintances, and then decided to let it operate online. As The Guardian reports, Browder wants to expand the service to Seattle.

The Stanford student believes that people that get parking tickets are being exploited by local authorities in most cases, and that they are seen as a “cash cow” by authorities because of the tiresome steps that must be taken to overturn a fine.

The enterprising self-taught coder does not want to stop at parking tickets, as he is working on an artificial intelligence solution to help people get compensation for flight delays. The latter is another issue that requires a methodical approach, which could earn its users considerable money in the long run.

Furthermore, Browder is experimenting with a developer platform which would allow the creation of AI chatbot lawyers for other matters just with legal knowledge, without any coding required.
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About the author: Sebastian Toma
Sebastian Toma profile photo

Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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