Incident · 2024 · Consumer legal services

FTC orders DoNotPay to pay $193,000 over “robot lawyer” claims

In September 2024, the FTC charged DoNotPay with deceptively marketing its AI chatbot service as “the world’s first robot lawyer” without testing whether it performed like a human lawyer. The final order, approved in January 2025 and announced in February, requires $193,000 in monetary relief and notice to people who subscribed between 2021 and 2023.

Last updated

What happened

DoNotPay sold a subscription service that it promoted as an AI lawyer for consumer legal tasks.

The FTC said the company did not test whether its AI matched a human lawyer’s performance and did not hire or retain attorneys to test its law-related features.

The case was one of five actions in Operation AI Comply, an FTC sweep against deceptive AI claims announced on September 25, 2024.

What happened next

The Commission voted 5-0 on January 16, 2025, to approve the final order. DoNotPay must pay $193,000, notify past subscribers and may not claim its service performs like a real lawyer without evidence.

Legal or regulatory result

FTC final order announced February 11, 2025 (press release).

What would have stopped it

  1. Keep the agent’s capability claims in a fixed, reviewed list and block claims about replacing licensed professionals.
  2. Test the product against every claim in its marketing before publishing, and keep the evidence.
  3. Block guarantees of outcomes in sales conversations.

Sources

  1. FTC: FTC finalizes order with DoNotPay
  2. FTC: FTC announces crackdown on deceptive AI claims and schemes

Similar incidents