At a glance
- Company
- DoNotPayOnline subscription service for legal documents
- Size
- Not stated in the source
- Industry
- Professional services The service offered legal documents and advice, work that law firms do.
- Where and when
- United States. Subscribers 2021–2023, order final February 2025.
- Who produced the figures
- Official recordEverything on this page comes from two announcements by the US Federal Trade Commission. These are the regulator’s allegations, settled by agreement.
What happened
DoNotPay sold a subscription to an AI chatbot for legal problems. It called the service “the world’s first robot lawyer”. It told customers they could “sue for assault without a lawyer” and “generate perfectly valid legal documents in no time”.
What the regulator said
- No test. The company never checked whether the chatbot’s output was as good as a human lawyer’s.
- No lawyers. It had not hired or retained any lawyer to check the quality and accuracy of the legal features.
- A feature that did not work. One feature claimed to check a small business’s website for legal problems using only an email address. The regulator said it was not effective.
The outcome
- $193,000 paid.
- Notice to subscribers. The company had to tell people who subscribed between 2021 and 2023 about the limits of its legal features.
- No unproven claims. It may not say its service performs like a real lawyer unless it has the evidence.
The order was made final in February 2025.
What the case shows
- “As good as a professional” is a claim that can be tested. Nobody at the company had tested it.
- Legal output needs a qualified checker. The company sold legal documents with no lawyer in the process.
- Buyers should ask for the test. A small business relying on this service for a legal document had only the advertising to go on.
What this says about the practices
Practices that were missing
- Claim only what your AI has been tested to do The company never tested whether its chatbot’s output matched the work of a human lawyer, the regulator said. Do next · Effort: low (days, one person)
- Keep a person checking anything that goes to a customer or carries legal weight The company had not hired or retained any lawyer to check the quality and accuracy of its legal features. Do first · Effort: medium (weeks, a few people)
- Ask AI vendors for proof before you buy, and test on your own material Customers were promised “perfectly valid legal documents” with no test behind the promise. Do first · Effort: medium (weeks, a few people)
Sources
- US Federal Trade Commission (25 September 2024). FTC announces crackdown on deceptive AI claims and schemes. Press release. ftc.gov
- US Federal Trade Commission (11 February 2025). FTC finalizes order with DoNotPay that prohibits deceptive “AI lawyer” claims, imposes monetary relief, and requires notice to past subscribers. Press release. ftc.gov