RoboCop meets RoboLawyer
Prof. Marek Kowalkiewicz
Bestselling author of "The Economy of Algorithms: AI and the Rise of the Digital Minions" | Professor and Chair in Digital Economy | Top 100 AI Thought Leader | Global Keynote Speaker on Digital Economy, AI & Innovation
Earlier this week, I discussed algorithms and their growing influence in the legal realm with Michał Jackowski on his podcast, “MondAI BAIgel.” I think I was the first non-lawyer invited to the podcast, so it was a bit of fun trying to speak the correct language (I still struggle to explain the difference between regulation and legislation, even though I work with organisations that deal with both daily).
Here’s the podcast, and below is a story we discussed in our conversation.
RoboLawyer in Court: a story in two acts
DoNotPay is a US-based business established in 2015. It’s a chatbot and a set of customised services that help people draft letters to address minor legal issues, such as appealing parking tickets or claiming warranty repairs. Some customers claim the service is a waste of time, while others rave about it.
Act 1
Earlier this year, the CEO of DoNotPay generated a lot of attention by claiming they’re taking their service to court: almost literally. They just needed a human to repeat after their AI.
This tweet was an invitation to “embody” a bot in a speeding-fine case. This is a slight downgrade from what Browder claimed two weeks earlier: inviting a human to give voice to their AI in the Supreme Court and paying them seven figures for being a human parrot at the algorithm’s service. You’ve got to love X’s community notes, though: this case was doomed from the start.
Act 2
While we were patiently waiting for reports on the first AI-argued court case, Browder threw another curveball. The legal community acted swiftly and stopped him from executing his plan. Within a few days of the announcement, he was threatened with jail time. Presumably, his algorithms would have been illegally practising law (but take my explanation with a grain of salt: I am not a lawyer).
So, is that it?
RoboLawyers: Fact or Fiction?
Not at all. “RoboLawyer” might sound like a character from a futuristic legal drama, but it’s closer to reality than fiction. While algorithms might be prevented from providing advice in the courtroom, they do provide online advice (there’s a thin line between “advice” and “legal advice” here) through services like DoNotPay. As long as a human is in the loop, nothing stops them: they’re simply a “decision support system,” not a lawyer. Forward-looking lawyers have been using algorithmic tools for decades: automating the mundane and letting them spend less time on boring things such as sifting through legal archives.
It’s no longer a question of whether “digital minions” have infiltrated the legal profession. They have. The question is how significant their influence is. On a scale of 1 (your traditional lawyer with stacks of papers) to 5 (a fully automated legal bot paradise), where are we?
It’s a mixed bag. For straightforward cases, we’re seeing more automation. But for the complex, unique cases, humans still reign supreme (for now). But there’s a challenge here. Mundane tasks, which tend to be automated first, are the same tasks junior team members typically perform. If digital minions are now becoming legal interns, how are young lawyers supposed to earn their right of passage? Keeping the legal profession’s doors open for the next generation—while embracing our algorithmic assistants—is a challenge we haven’t seen before.
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Final Thoughts
As we wrapped up the podcast, one thing was clear – the legal profession is evolving, and so must we. The key is to strike a balance between automation and human insight, ensuring that we harness the power of AI while keeping our human touch intact.
Epilogue
As algorithmic agents earn their stripes in the legal world, we are starting to see scenarios that were unimaginable even a few years ago. If one party can hire an algorithmic lawyer to argue their case, why couldn’t the other do the same? Perhaps our future of RoboLawyers will be full of algorithms negotiating with each other.
Wouldn’t it be fun? If this future materialises, today’s lawyers might become algorithmic shepherds (or AIus, since we’re talking about digital minions) of tomorrow.
Oh wait, it might be happening already now! At least, according to Browder.
Don’t forget to check out Michał’s MondAI BAIgel podcast for more insights (and some lawyerly banter) on your favourite podcast platform.
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My first mass-market book, “The Economy of Algorithms: Rise of the Digital Minions”, will launch in March 2024. If you’re in Australia, you can preorder it now on Amazon and Booktopia. Other countries and translations coming soon. Book preorders help us, first-time authors, massively, as they help bookstores predict the demand. If you like my writing, consider preordering the book. Thank you!
Prof. Marek Kowalkiewicz is a Professor and Chair in Digital Economy at QUT Business School. Listed among the Top 100 Global Thought Leaders in Artificial Intelligence by Thinkers360, Marek has led global innovation teams in Silicon Valley, was a Research Manager of SAP’s Machine Learning lab in Singapore, a Global Research Program Lead at SAP Research, as well as a Research Fellow at Microsoft Research Asia. His upcoming book is called “The Economy of Algorithms: Rise of the Digital Minions”.
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