‘Robot lawyer’ that overturned 160,000 parking tickets now helping refugees

A chat bot that helped overturn 160,000 parking tickets is now giving free legal aid to asylum-seeking refugees through Facebook.

DoNotPay, which has been dubbed the worldā€™s first robot lawyer, was created by London-born Stanford University student Joshua Browder.

The 20-year-old, who has made Forbesā€™ 30 Under 30 list of the brightest young entrepreneurs, designed his first bot to help people fight parking fines.

Now the ā€˜Robin Hood of the internetā€™ has just expanded the chat bot to Facebook Messenger to help refugeesĀ in the US, Canada and the UK claim asylum.

ā€œUltimately, I just want to level the playing field so thereā€™s a bot for everything,ā€ he told Business Insider.

ā€œI originally started with parking tickets and delayed flights and all sorts of trivial consumer rights issues,ā€ he added. ā€œBut then I began to be approached by these non-profits and lawyers who said the idea of automating legal services is bigger than just a few parking fines. So Iā€™ve since tried to expand into doing something more humanitarian.ā€

The bot asks users a series of questions in real time, such as ā€œHave you, your family or colleagues ever experienced harm or threats?ā€

It helps refugees seeking asylum in the United States or Canada complete the necessary forms and those applying in the UK, who will then have to apply in person, with the support documents.

Browder watched hours of YouTube tutorial videos to create the chat bot, explaining: ā€œIt was a huge challenge.ā€

He added: ā€œThe success of the parking tickets has made me realise this is bigger than parking charges. I think thereā€™s a real value in providing free legal help through a chat bot.ā€

Ā In other chat bot news, Microsoft previously had to apologise afterĀ its AI became a ‘Hitler-loving sex robot’ within 24 hours of being introduced to society.

ByĀ Mark Molloy

Source Ā www.telegraph.co.uk

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