I just learned about a website called divorce.law, which uses an artificial intelligence bot named Victoria to answer general questions about divorce and serve as a marketing tool for divorce professionals. I’ve spent a little time looking into it and have a few general impressions. If you have any experience with it (or want to look at it now), I’d love to know what you think.
First, I should let you know I’m never the first kid on the block to get the latest technology. As with other new-fangled things like Walkmans, iPods, and smartphones, I’ve held back on AI, experimenting with it a little bit, curious but tentative.
(When I was getting special license plates a few years ago, I asked Chat GPT to give me a list of 25 6-letter words that connote life, and the list it generated included several 4-letter and 8-letter words. If AI can’t count to 6, how am I supposed to rely on it for divorce advice? In other words, I’m skeptical.)
- Divorce.law uses AI to answer general questions about divorce and to connect users with divorce professionals. You type in questions and Victoria will answer them in a chat window.
- The site was created by a Florida divorce lawyer.
- Your questions do not have to be factual – I asked, “Is mediation right for me?” and “How do I find the right mediator?” and they gave pretty sophisticated answers.
- But don’t rely on it to know information that isn’t on the web. For instance, I asked, “How long does it take to get a divorce in New York?” and how to calculate child support in New York and it gave an answer that wasn’t accurate or was outdated.
- They say that “Divorce.law’s mission is to redefine how people navigate the complexities of divorce through groundbreaking AI technology….The goal is to make the divorce journey simpler, more accessible, and less intimidating for everyone involved.” I think this is a great goal. Divorce is unnecessarily complicated, at least in New York, and any tools we can get to make it clearer and less stressful are welcome!
- Make no mistake, it’s a marketing site. At the end of nearly every answer, Victoria reminds you to consult with a local family law professional – which is the right thing for them to say. And … it just so happens that they have a directory of family law professionals who pay to be listed on their website.
So far, the artificial intelligence that Divorce.law uses seems consistent with other AI interfaces – some of the information is terrific, while some are unreliable. For instance, when I asked how to find the right divorce mediator, it told me to understand my needs, research potential mediators, check their qualifications and interview them, assess compatibility, consider logistics, and trust my instincts. This isn’t rocket science, but it is practical and helpful information. But some of the information is out of date (e.g. the income cap on child support is currently $183,000, not $163,000). (To her credit, Victoria was very polite and was not defensive when I pointed this out.) But how do you know what is true and what isn’t?
There are 2 things about the website that I found confusing — or concerning. The first is that they list publications that they’ve been featured on but without links. Why not? The other is that the founder’s name is not on the website, and when you ask Victoria who founded it, she says she doesn’t know. But when I signed up for their email list, I received a lovely letter from Antonio G. Jimenez, Esq., LL.M. Why wouldn’t this be obvious from the website?
What do you think? Is Victoria our new best friend? Is the answer, ‘trust but verify’? Do you never want to hear her name again? Let me know!