Incident: An AI lawyer claim nobody tested

Module 14 · Incident file · About 30 minutes

What happened

On 25 September 2024 the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced "Operation AI Comply", a set of actions against companies using AI claims to deceive consumers ("FTC Announces Crackdown on Deceptive AI Claims and Schemes", 25 September 2024). One was DoNotPay, which "claimed to offer an AI service that was 'the world's first robot lawyer'". It told consumers they could "sue for assault without a lawyer" and said it would "replace the $200-billion-dollar legal industry with artificial intelligence".

The FTC's complaint alleged that the company "did not conduct testing to determine whether its AI chatbot's output was equal to the level of a human lawyer", and that it "did not hire or retain any attorneys". The proposed settlement required DoNotPay to pay $193,000 and to notify consumers who subscribed between 2021 and 2023, "warning them about the limitations of law-related features on the service". The Commission voted 5-0 on 16 January 2025 to approve the final order, announced on 11 February 2025 ("FTC Finalizes Order with DoNotPay..."). It bars the company from advertising that its service "performs like a real lawyer" unless it has "sufficient evidence to back it up". These are the FTC's allegations, resolved by settlement. This file describes what the FTC published; it is not legal advice.