In what is set to be a landmark moment in both legal history and our inevitable march toward Skynet taking over and killing us all, a robot lawyer is set to appear in court to defend a real client. To be more specific, it will be an Artificial Intelligence lawyer. The bit will be advising the client on the best ways to argue their case in defending against a speeding ticket.

This chatbot was created by a company called “Do Not Pay” and, while not physically appearing as a robot in court, it will be advising via a chat app on the defendant’s phone. The defendant has agreed that he will only do and say what the bot tells him to do.

The goal of this test is, as you can guess, money. If they can successfully help the defendant beat his traffic ticket rap and get out of a fine, this AI Bot could be used (for a fee) by anyone else fighting small court cases.

While not previously used in court, this is not the first time the robot lawyer has helped out. Previously, it helped a customer argue their way out of a $16 bank fee.

For our money, this seems like a bad idea and a very slippery slope. The criminal justice system is cold and ineffective in its current form. While adding AI lawyers could help take some strain off the legal system in the long-run, losing the human element could be disastrous.

Source: IFLscience