United States of America: Announced FTC investigation into DoNotPay for alleged misrepresentation of AI legal services

On 25 September 2024, the Federal Trade Commission announced its investigation into DoNotPay, a company specialising in online legal services and chatbots. The investigation focuses on the company's claims of offering an AI service that acts as 'the world’s first robot lawyer.' The complaint highlights a number of promises made by DoNotPay to customers regarding legal features and services, including drafting documents, complaints, and appealing parking tickets, with a chatbot which supposedly operated like a human lawyer. In its complaint, the FTC alleges that DoNotPay makes a range of false or unsubstantiated claims regarding its service operating like a human lawyer, as well as making further false claims regarding the capacities of its services. Therefore, the Commission initiated the investigation for violation of Section 5(a) of the Federal Trade Commission Act prohibiting unfair or deceptive practices affecting commerce.