DoNotPay, which claims it uses artificial intelligence to help consumers, is facing a lawsuit from a prominent plaintiffs' law firm that says it is practicing law without a license.
In a proposed class action in San Francisco state court dated Mar 3 and posted to the court's public website Thursday, DoNotPay is not actually a robot, a lawyer, or a law firm.
Edelson filed a lawsuit on behalf of California resident Jonathan Faridian, who said he used San Francisco-based DoNotPay to draft demand letters, a small claims court filing and LLC operating agreements and got substandard and poorly done results.
DoNotPay CEO Joshua Browder resigned on Thursday, saying the claims have no merit and that Faridian has had dozens of successful consumer rights cases with DoNotPay. Browder said that Edelson founder Jay Edelson inspired me to start DoNotPay, claiming Edelson and lawyers like him enrich themselves through class actions with little benefit to consumers.
Browder founded DoNotPay in 2015 with a focus on tasks such as parking tickets, and has expanded to include legal services, the lawsuit said.
The rise of OpenAI's ChatGPT and other AI chatbots has given rise to the promise of generative artificial intelligence tools for applications such as legal work. Browder said earlier this year that DoNotPay was generating buzz when he said on Twitter that they had plans to use an AI chatbot to advise a defendant in traffic court.
Browder said his company would pay $1 million for anyone willing to wear headphones and use its robot lawyer for an argument before the US Supreme Court.
He later said on Twitter that he had received threats from State Bar prosecutors and DoNotPay that it would postpone its traffic court case.
He said in January that DoNotPay would immediately remove non-consumer legal rights products. The lawsuit states that the products are still available on its website.
The suit said DoNotPay was in violation of California's unfair competition law by engaging in the unauthorised practice of law. It is seeking a court order declaring the company's conduct unlawful and unspecified damages.