Technologies

AI as Lawyer: It’s Starting as a Stunt, but There’s a Real Need

People already have a hard enough time getting help from lawyers. Advocates say AI could change that.

Next month, AI will enter the courtroom, and the US legal system may never be the same.

An artificial intelligence chatbot, technology programmed to respond to questions and hold a conversation, is expected to advise two individuals fighting speeding tickets in courtrooms in undisclosed cities. The two will wear a wireless headphone, which will relay what the judge says to the chatbot being run by DoNotPay, a company that typically helps people fight traffic tickets through the mail. The headphone will then play the chatbot’s suggested responses to the judge’s questions, which the individuals can then choose to repeat in court.

It’s a stunt. But it also has the potential to change how people interact with the law, and to bring many more changes over time. DoNotPay CEO Josh Browder says expensive legal fees have historically kept people from hiring traditional lawyers to fight for them in traffic court, which typically involves fines that can reach into the hundreds of dollars.

So, his team wondered whether an AI chatbot, trained to understand and argue the law, could intervene.

«Most people can’t afford legal representation,» Browder said in an interview. Using the AI in a real court situation «will be a proof of concept for courts to allow technology in the courtroom.»

Regardless of whether Browder is successful — he says he will be — his company’s actions mark the first of what are likely to be many more efforts to bring AI further into our daily lives.

Modern life is already filled with the technology. Some people wake up to a song chosen by AI-powered alarms. Their news feed is often curated by a computer program, too, one that’s taught to pick items they’ll find most interesting or that they’ll be most likely to comment on and share via social media. AI chooses what photos to show us on our phones, it asks us if it should add a meeting to our calendars based on emails we receive, and it reminds us to text a birthday greeting to our loved ones.

But advocates say AI’s ability to sort information, spot patterns and quickly pull up data means that in a short time, it could become a «copilot» for our daily lives. Already, coders on Microsoft-owned GitHub are using AI to help them create apps and solve technical problems. Social media managers are relying on AI to help determine the best time to post a new item. Even we here at CNET are experimenting with whether AI can help write explainer-type stories about the ever-changing world of finance.

So, it can seem like only a matter of time before AI finds its way into research-heavy industries like the law as well. And considering that 80% of low-income Americans don’t have access to legal help, while 40% to 60% of the middle class still struggle to get such assistance, there’s clearly demand. AI could help meet that need, but lawyers shouldn’t feel like new technology is going to take business away from them, says Andrew Perlman, dean of the law school at Suffolk University. It’s simply a matter of scale.

«There is no way that the legal profession is going to be able to deliver all of the legal services that people need,» Perlman said.

Turning to AI

DoNotPay began its latest AI experiment back in 2021 when businesses were given early access to GPT-3, the same AI tool used by the startup OpenAI to create ChatGPT, which went viral for its ability to answer questions, write essays and even create new computer programs. In December, Browder pitched his idea via a tweet: have someone wear an Apple AirPod into traffic court so that the AI could hear what’s happening through the microphone and feed responses through the earbud.

Aside from people jeering him for the stunt, Browder knew he’d have other challenges. Many states and districts limit legal advisors to those who are licensed to practice law, a clear hurdle that UC Irvine School of Law professor Emily Taylor Poppe said may cause trouble for DoNotPay’s AI.

«Because the AI would be providing information in real time, and because it would involve applying relevant law to specific facts, it is hard to see how it could avoid being seen as the provision of legal advice,» Poppe said. Essentially, the AI would be legally considered a lawyer acting without a law license.

AI tools raise privacy concerns too. The computer program technically needs to record audio to interpret what it hears, a move that’s not allowed in many courts. Lawyers are also expected to follow ethics rules that forbid them from sharing confidential information about clients. Can a chatbot, designed to share information, follow the same protocols?

Perlman says many of these concerns can be answered if these tools are created with care. If successful, he argues, these technologies could also help with the mountains of paperwork lawyers encounter on a daily basis.

Ultimately, he argues, chatbots may turn out to be as helpful as Google and other research tools are today, saving lawyers from having to physically wade through law libraries to find information stored on bookshelves.

«Lawyers trying to deliver legal services without technology are going to be inadequate and insufficient to meeting the public’s legalities,» Perlman said. Ultimately, he believes, AI can do more good than harm.

The two cases DoNotPay participates in will likely impact much of that conversation. Browder declined to say where the proceedings will take place, citing safety concerns.

Neither DoNotPay nor the defendants plan to inform the judges or anyone in court that an AI is being used or that audio is being recorded, a fact that raises ethics concerns. This in itself resulted in pushback on Twitter when Browder asked for traffic ticket volunteers in December. But Browder says the courts that DoNotPay chose are likely to be more lenient if they find out.

The future of law

After these traffic ticket fights, DoNotPay plans to create a video presentation designed to advocate in favor of the technology, ultimately with the goal of changing law and policy to allow AI in courtrooms.

States and legal organizations, meanwhile, are already debating these questions. In 2020, a California task force dedicated to exploring ways to expand access to legal services recommended allowing select unlicensed practitioners to represent clients, among other reforms. The American Bar Association told judges using AI tools to be mindful of biases instilled in the tools themselves. UNESCO, the international organization dedicated to preserving culture, has a free online course covering the basics of what AI can offer legal systems.

For his part, Browder says AI chatbots will become so popular in the next couple of years that the courts will have no choice but to allow them anyway. Perhaps AI tools will have a seat at the table, rather than having to whisper in our ears.

«Six months ago, you couldn’t even imagine that an AI could respond in these detailed ways,» Browder said. «No one has imagined, in any law, what this could be like in real life.»

Technologies

GFiber Is Merging With Astound Broadband, Likely Expanding to More Areas

Technologies

Your iPhone Has a Hidden Flight Tracker. Here’s How to Use It

Apple quietly built a real-time flight tracker into iOS.

Flying can introduce an entirely new layer of stress to any trip. Flight delays, cancellations and everything that could go wrong can keep you on edge, so staying up to date with your flight’s status is never far away from your mind.

Luckily, we’re in a world where finding the information for your flight is easily accessible. You can check your airline’s mobile app or even Google your flight number and the latest information is readily available. But did you know there’s a secret way to get your flight information on your iPhone?

The iPhone has had a built-in flight tracker for some time now, but you’d never know it existed if you weren’t specifically looking for it — or searching for the correct terms to pull it up.

Below, we’ll show you how to access the flight tracker so you’re just a tap away from the latest flight stats, giving you a little more peace of mind before your trip.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source on Chrome.

How to track your flight via iMessage

Before we start, there are a few prerequisites you must meet:

Make sure iMessage is enabled (it doesn’t work with SMS/MMS).
You’ll need your flight number somewhere in your text messages, whether you’ve sent that information to someone (even yourself) or it’s been sent to you.
The flight number must be sent in this format: [Airline] [Flight number], for example, American Airlines 9707.

Launch the native Messages app on your iPhone and open the text message thread that contains your flight information. You’ll know the flight tracker feature works when the text with the flight information appears underlined, which means it’s actionable and you can tap on it.

If your flight is still several months away or it’s already passed, you might see a message that says, «Flight information unavailable.» You might also see another flight that’s not yours because airlines recycle flight numbers.

You can check your flight status from Spotlight Search, too

If getting your flight information from Messages wasn’t easy enough, you can also grab the details right from your iPhone’s home screen by swiping down and adding your flight number into Spotlight Search. This works with Spotlight Search on your Mac computer, too.

How to access the hidden flight tracker

Although the airline name/flight number format highlighted above is the best way to go, there are other texting options that will lead you to the same result. So let’s say we stick with American Airlines 9707, other options that may bring up the flight tracker include:

AmericanAirlines9707 (no spaces)
AmericanAirlines 9707 (only one space)
AA9707 (airline name is abbreviated and no space)
AA 9707 (abbreviated and space)

I would suggest you keep the airline name spelled out completely and add a space between the two pieces of information — like in the previous section — because for some airlines, these alternative options may not work.

Real-time flight tracking

Once everything is set, tap on the flight information in your text messages. If the feature works correctly, you should see the following two options appear in a quick-action menu:

Preview Flight: View the flight’s details. Tap this to view more information about the flight.
Copy Flight Code: Copy the flight code to your clipboard (in case you want to send your flight details to someone else via text or email).

If you select Preview Flight, at the top of the window, you’ll see the best part of this feature: a real-time flight tracker map. A line will connect the two destinations, and a tiny airplane will move between them, indicating where the flight is at that exact moment.

Underneath the map, you’ll see important flight information:

Airline name and flight number
Flight status (arriving on time, delayed, canceled, etc.)
Terminal and gate numbers (for arrival and departure)
Arrival and departure time
Flight duration
Baggage claim (the number of the baggage carousel)

If you swipe left on the bottom half of the flight tracker, you can switch between flights, but only if there’s a return flight.

For more travel tips, don’t miss our test on whether AI can help you fly more sustainably.

Technologies

Copilot Health Is Microsoft’s Doctor-Built Spin on Medical AI

Microsoft doesn’t want its AI to be your doctor. It wants to make you better prepared when you do see them.

Microsoft is taking a major swing at health AI. The company announced on Thursday that it’s introducing Copilot Health, a new experience inside its chatbot that will bring together all your medical records and wearable data with an AI that’s designed to help you understand it all.

«We are really on the cusp of building a true medical superintelligence,» said Mustafa Suleyman, Microsoft AI CEO. «One that can learn everything about you, all of your health conditions, from your wearable data, your electronic health records, and use that to provide support and insights and intelligence at your fingertips.»

A recent Microsoft survey found that mobile Copilot users ask the chatbot health-related queries more than for any other topic. Copilot Health was built to answer those questions. Microsoft’s health AI was fine-tuned by its in-house clinicians and an external panel of hundreds of clinicians in more than 24 countries. It uses the National Academy of Medicine’s framework for evaluating credible medical sources and information from Harvard Medical School via a 2025 licensing agreement.

Copilot Health is inside the regular, consumer version of Copilot. But it’s an entirely separate experience, designed that way to keep your health information separate from your usual chats. Because it’s been specifically trained for health questions, it ought to be more helpful and accurate than the regular version of Copilot or another chatbot. ChatGPT introduced a similar experience earlier this year.

Your health information won’t pop up in responses from the regular Copilot, only in the new health tab. You can delete your data at any time by simply toggling off a setting — something so easy it raises the question why all AI companies don’t make it that simple to delete your data.

Your information isn’t used to train Microsoft’s AI models, the company says. But your medical information in AI tools like Copilot is not protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

The benefit of using Copilot Health is having a place where all your medical and health information lives, with an AI that’s trained to help answer your questions about it. You can connect data from your smartwatches and rings, as well as upload your medical records. Through a third-party program called HealthEx, you can upload files from multiple doctors’ offices, hospitals and labs at one time.

Copilot Health is not a doctor

If you choose to share your electronic health record, the AI can make more informed recommendations and reference specific doctors’ visit notes and lab results. But don’t use Copilot Health as a replacement for a physician. What the AI can do is discuss your health concerns, help you prepare for upcoming appointments and help you build healthier habits.

«Copilot Health is not meant to give you a definitive diagnosis or a formal treatment plan, but it’s certainly here to support you in getting to the right answers,» said Dr. Dominic King, vice president of health at Microsoft AI. The former surgeon led the team that built Copilot Health.

For example, it can help you come up with a list of questions to ask your doctor, break down lab results and find a provider that accepts your insurance. Copilot Health can discuss your health concerns, like understanding any new symptoms, but it can’t diagnose or prescribe medication.

Microsoft is doing a slow rollout, beginning with adults (ages 18 plus) in the US, with English as the only language. You can sign up to join the waitlist for Copilot Health now.

There are some existing uses of AI in health care today, but they’re disparate. Wearables have new AI-powered data insights and coaching. Some doctors are using AI scribe tools to take notes during appointments with patients. Administrative and insurance work also has its own AI tools, particularly around claims processing (including making denials, in some cases). The common thread is that none of the AI is without flaws, and it should never be used to make important decisions without human oversight.

For AI believers, the tangled, bureaucratic web of American health care is the perfect place to prove that AI intervention can make a real difference. But AI in health care is like putting a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound — a halfway measure that doesn’t fix the underlying problems.

It’s too soon to tell if Microsoft’s goal of a medical superintelligence is viable. But for now, Copilot Health illustrates a more productive use of AI — more than filling the internet with slop.

«I think it is perhaps the most important and most positively impactful contribution that AI can make in the world,» Suleyman said. «And it’s enormously important to us.»