A new app is aiming to democratize the legal world through the power of artificial intelligence. Human attorneys tend to be quite expensive, but it turns out robot lawyers are cheap. 

The app, called “DoNotPay,” is billed as “the world’s first robot lawyer.”

It uses “artificial intelligence to help consumers fight against large corporations and solve their problems like beating parking tickets, appealing bank fees, and suing robocallers,” according to the app’s website. 

Here’s how it works, via CBS News: The “AI-creation runs on a smartphone, listens to court arguments and formulates responses for the defendant,” and the “AI lawyer tells the defendant what to say in real-time, through headphones.”

According to CBS News, the app will “be the first of its kind to help a defendant fight a traffic ticket in court next month,” and the company behind the app says that it has already “used AI-generated form letters and chatbots to help people secure refunds for in-flight Wifi that didn’t work, as well as to lower bills and dispute parking tickets, among other issues.”

The “DoNotPay” app is yet another example of “generative artificial intelligence,” technology that can generate text and other forms of content in response to human commands. 

Generative AI has attracted considerable attention from investors since last month’s release of “ChatGPT,” a chatbot from the San Francisco-based lab OpenAI that created a sensation with its music and stories. 

The New York Times reported last week that more than a million people have used “ChatGPT,” and that OpenAI “is in talks to complete a deal that would value it at around $29 billion, more than twice its valuation in 2021.”

CBS News reported that DoNotPay “has raised $27.7 million from tech-focused venture capital firms, including Andreessen Horowitz and Crew Capital.”

“In the past year, AI tech has really developed and allowed us to go back and forth in real time with corporations and governments,” DoNotPay CEO Joshua Browder told CBS News. “We spoke live [with companies and customer service reps] to lower bills with companies; and what we’re doing next month is try to use the tech in a courtroom for the first time.”

The proliferation of artificial intelligence has set off plenty of alarm bells. As Politico noted in a story this week about DoNotPay, “the public release of increasingly advanced AI tools has raised questions about everything from high school plagiarism to the very essence of what it is to be human.” 

And while many have found chatbots to be fun, a robot lawyer might just be too creepy for some. 

It also happens to be illegal in many jurisdictions. 

“Some courts allow defendants to wear hearing aids, some versions of which are bluetooth-enabled. That’s how Browder determined that DoNotPay’s technology can legally be used in this case,” CBS News reported. “However, the tech isn’t legal in most courtrooms. Some states require that all parties consent to be recorded, which rules out the possibility of a robot lawyer entering many courtrooms. Of the 300 cases DoNotPay considered for a trial of its robot lawyer, only two were feasible.”

Browder told CBS that it’s “within the letter of the law, but I don’t think anyone could ever imagine this would happen.” 

“It’s not in the spirit of law, but we’re trying to push things forward and a lot of people can’t afford legal help. If these cases are successful, it will encourage more courts to change their rules,” Browder said. 

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The future is now for adult cannabis consumers in Ontario, Canada with a new level of convenience. Uber Eats customers there can find a new cannabis category on the app to order for pick-up, beginning Monday. Orders will be fulfilled within an hour of order placement, which is initially only available to Ontario residents.

Uber Technologies Inc. will add Canadian cannabis retailer Tokyo Smoke to its marketplace on November 29—allowing customers to browse, then place orders from the Uber Eats app and finally pick it up at their nearest Tokyo Smoke store, with dozens of locations in the province. You can browse through an assortment of cannabis products.

Deliveries of weed, however, will not be allowed. Orders are for pick-up only. Uber Eats‘ head of communications for delivery, Meghan Casserly, confirmed that there would be no delivery to The Verge.

Reuters first reported the bold policy change, as it gains attention in the marketplace. “We will continue to watch regulations and opportunities closely market by market. And as local and federal laws evolve, we will explore opportunities with merchants who operate in other regions,” the Uber spokesperson told Reuters.

When asked about expanding the service into other Canadian provinces, or the U.S., the spokesperson said there is “nothing more to share at this time.”

The collaboration between Tokyo Smoke and Uber will help Canadian adults purchase legal cannabis safely, with a goal to abate the thriving underground black market which still accounts for over 40 percent of all non-medical cannabis sales nationally, the Uber spokesperson added.

You can already order liquor through the Uber Eats app, and Uber executives zeroed in on the burgeoning cannabis industry long ago. 

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told CNBC last April the company will consider delivering cannabis when the legal coast is clear in the United States. “When the road is clear for cannabis, when federal laws come into play, we’re absolutely going to take a look at it,” he said at the time. 

Entry to the cannabis market in Canada represents an early move by a major company such as Uber, with steady growth predicted by multiple analyst groups.

The company has been eyeing the cannabis industry for years. In 2014, Uber encouraged stoned drivers to use the app and avoid drugged driving charges—amid new legal markets that began to emerge.

Last September, former Uber General Manager Leandre Johns joined the Flowhub executive team as Chief Operating Officer (COO). Flowhub provides innovative, modern tools, such as point-of-sale (POS) tools that transformed the cannabis space.

Uber Eats Collaboration with Tokyo Smoke

There are over 50 Tokyo Smoke locations scattered throughout Ontario, so finding a location close by isn’t a problem for locals. Locations can also be found in Alberta, and the brand is also one of only four companies granted a license to operate in Manitoba.

High Times highlighted Tokyo Smoke as a Top Brand in our December issue. “Your shopping experience should be nothing short of great,” the company stated. The cannabis store chain grew substantially during the 2021 year, with locations popping up left and right.

Tokyo Smoke was launched by father-and-son duo Alan and Lorne Gertner in 2015, and is now owned by Canopy Growth. The interior design of the stores gained praise from the media. Interior Design magazine, for instance, highlighted one of Tokyo Smoke’s Toronto locations. Part of the experience is choosing cannabis via Tokyo Smoke’s Intent system: Go, Rise, Equalize, Ease and Pause.

Tokyo Smoke products are verified for quality and can be traced back to a licensed producer—unlike some of the other companies around. 

Previously in 2019, Acreage Holdings announced its intention to open Tokyo Smoke locations in the United States, expanding its footprint.

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