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How we know: the FTC's release on the final order (Feb. 11, 2025) and on the original complaint (Sept. 25, 2024); the Federal Register analysis of the proposed order, including commissioners' statements (Sept. 30, 2024); The Verge (Feb. 11, 2025); Gizmodo and NBC News (Sept. 25, 2024).

Facts as known at: Feb. 11, 2025 (FTC final-order release; The Verge), plus the FTC's complaint release and Gizmodo and NBC News reports (Sept. 25, 2024) and the Federal Register analysis of the proposed order (Sept. 30, 2024)

LegalCase study

The 'robot lawyer' settles: FTC orders DoNotPay to pay $193,000

DoNotPay sold a subscription it called "the world's first robot lawyer." The FTC says the company never checked whether it worked like one, and has now finalized an order that bans the claim without evidence.

By Real World WireDated February 2025

February 2025 — The Federal Trade Commission has finalized its order against DoNotPay, the startup that marketed a chatbot as a lawyer. Here's what launched, what it cost, and what went wrong.

Cost and outcome (as of Feb. 11, 2025)

  • Monetary relief: $193,000. (FTC, archived)
  • Customer notice: people who subscribed from 2021 to 2023 must be told about the case. (FTC, archived)
  • Vote: 5–0, on Jan. 16, 2025. (The Verge)
  • Admission: none. DoNotPay settled "without admitting liability." (Gizmodo)

What DoNotPay sold

DoNotPay promoted its service as "the world's first robot lawyer," the FTC said. According to the Federal Register analysis of the proposed order, the company said its "AI lawyer" could draft "ironclad" demand letters, contracts and small-claims complaints, and help with speeding and parking ticket appeals.

The pitch was broad. The FTC's complaint quotes DoNotPay telling consumers they could "sue for assault without a lawyer" and "generate perfectly valid legal documents in no time," and saying it would "replace the $200-billion-dollar legal industry with artificial intelligence." In September 2024, its website said it helped with "beating parking tickets, appealing bank fees, and stopping robocallers," NBC News reported.

What the FTC alleged

The FTC brought the case in September 2024 as one of five actions in Operation AI Comply, its sweep of deceptive AI claims. "Using AI tools to trick, mislead, or defraud people is illegal," then-Chair Lina Khan said. "The FTC's enforcement actions make clear that there is no AI exemption from the laws on the books."

According to the complaint, DoNotPay "did not conduct testing to determine whether its AI chatbot’s output was equal to the level of a human lawyer" and did not hire or retain attorneys to test the quality and accuracy of its law-related features. The FTC also said DoNotPay offered small businesses a check of their websites for legal violations "based solely on the consumer's email address," a check it said could find violations that might cost $125,000 in legal fees. The Federal Register analysis adds that some features sold with the General Membership weren't actually available.

Commissioner Andrew Ferguson's concurring statement added a detail. DoNotPay's website carried a quote attributed to the Los Angeles Times: "What this robot lawyer can do is astonishingly similar--if not more--to what human lawyers do." Ferguson wrote that it came from a high school student's opinion piece on the Times' High School Insider blog. "Businesses that exploit media hype and consumer unfamiliarity with this new technology to cheat people out of their hard-earned money should expect a knock on the door from the Commission," he wrote.

What the order requires

The FTC approved the final order 5–0 on Jan. 16, 2025, after receiving five public comments, and announced it on Feb. 11. The vote came before Khan left and Ferguson took over as chair, The Verge reported.

DoNotPay must pay $193,000 and notify consumers who subscribed between 2021 and 2023. It may not claim its service performs like a real lawyer unless it has sufficient evidence. The proposed order ran 20 years and required compliance reports, the Federal Register analysis said.

"For consumers to benefit from AI," Commissioner Melissa Holyoak wrote in a concurrence joined by Khan, "they must be able to trust the claims that companies make about its capabilities."

What DoNotPay said

When the case was announced, a DoNotPay spokeswoman said the company was "pleased to have worked constructively with the FTC to settle this case and fully resolve these issues, without admitting liability." She added: "The complaint relates to the usage of a few hundred customers some years ago (out of millions of people), with services that have long been discontinued."

What went wrong

  • No test behind the claim. The FTC says DoNotPay sold a lawyer substitute without checking its work against lawyers.
  • What we don't know yet: how many subscribers will get the notice, how the $193,000 will be used, and what DoNotPay's AI features run on today.

Our follow-up question for DoNotPay

Has DoNotPay since tested its legal documents against work by licensed attorneys, and will it publish the results?

Sources

  1. Federal Trade Commission, “FTC Finalizes Order with DoNotPay That Prohibits Deceptive 'AI Lawyer' Claims, Imposes Monetary Relief, and Requires Notice to Past Subscribers,” Feb. 11, 2025. ftc.gov (archived: web.archive.org)
  2. Federal Trade Commission, “FTC Announces Crackdown on Deceptive AI Claims and Schemes,” Sept. 25, 2024. ftc.gov (archived: web.archive.org)
  3. Federal Register, Vol. 89, No. 189, “DoNotPay, Inc.; Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment,” Sept. 30, 2024. federalregister.gov
  4. The Verge, Wes Davis, “DoNotPay must pay $193,000 for 'AI Lawyer' claims,” Feb. 11, 2025. theverge.com
  5. Gizmodo, Matt Novak, Sept. 25, 2024. gizmodo.com
  6. NBC News, Minyvonne Burke, Sept. 25, 2024. nbcnews.com

Disclosure: [not in copy] Editor placeholder

© 2026 Real World Wire. Written October 26, 2026.