UK teenager's Chatbot successfully challenges 160,000 parking fines

A chatbot programmed by a UK teenager has successfully challenged 160,000 parking tickets since it was launched last year.

According to the chatbot's creator, Joshua Browder, about 250,000 people had used the free service so far.

The DoNotPay bot, which currently works in the UK and New York in the US asks a series of questions to determine the validity of a penalty notice.

It could also be used to work out compensation for delayed flights.

Browder told the BBC he hoped it proved that bots could be useful.

"Bots are a huge opportunity for public service," he said.

The bot asks a series of questions about the circumstances surrounding the parking ticket.

"I'm very surprised it has been so successful, but I am not surprised that so many people have pushed back against their parking tickets."

According to Venture Beat, of the 160,000 successful challenges, 9, 000 were from New York, where the bot had launched in March 2016.

Browder said he was inspired to build the bot after receiving "countless" parking tickets himself. He describes the bot as the ''world's first robot lawyer";  he programmed it in three months.

The DoNotPay bot was first released in London last fall, and had built a track record of successfully disputing 160,000 tickets.

The robot lawyer which generates documents and answers legal questions, has no fees. Users who wish to dispute a parking ticket first need to sign into the website and a chat screen would appear.

The bot the proceeds with questions to understand the details of the case such as "were you or someone you know driving?" or "was it hard to understand that parking signs?"

The bot then analyses the replies and then decides if users qualify for an appeal. If yes it generates an appeal letter that could be presented to the court.