Just three weeks after DoNotPay, the company behind the “world’s first robot lawyer” agreed to a $193,000 settlement with the Federal Trade Commission for being a robot and definitely not a lawyer, a new AI-powered platform is attempting to offer legal services in California.
CimphonyAI, founded by Arpan Nanavati and Juan Guardado, markets itself as “a first of its kind AI law firm for startups.” The company claims to use AI agents powered by a custom-trained Mistral AI model to handle various legal tasks, including formation paperwork, contracts, fundraising, and stock options. Nanavati says that its mission is “to make legal services accessible and affordable for everyone.”
Its tagline, “Cimphony puts legal needs on auto-pilot,” is almost foreboding. Kathryn Tewson, the same paralegal who took down DoNotPay, tested the platform and what she found was one red flag after another.
Nanavati was also careful to point out that while they use AI agents, the company’s “human lawyers always have your back.”
This may not be the case, based on Tewson’s experience. There didn’t even seem to be a human to review the use of punctuation.
And it just gets worse from there. While the platform sort of generated some of what she asked for, the feedback on her requests was slow to zero. Tewson also saw that the live chat has not been online since September 2, 2024. And—surprise—the “lawyers” aren’t the only ones that appear AI-powered.
From here, she finds a series of made-up online personas from one AI-generated image claiming to be a “Founder, CEO” in the testimonials. Notably, out of the thousands of customers the company claims to have, it names only one—and surprise, it appears it’s also made up.
She also found this little gem. Recall that CimponyAI calls itself the first-of-its-kind “AI law firm for startups.”
The red flags have not prevented the startup from raising capital, though. In September, it announced backing from Hannah Grey, a two-year-old venture firm, which in turn is “backed by LPs such as Screendoor Partners, JPMorgan, Twitter, Carta, Stagwell Group, Insight Partners, Equity Alliance, and other foundations, fund of funds, family offices and strategic industry veterans.”
In their announcement, Hannah Grey called the company the “first full-service, AI-powered law firm,” and said that they were “blown away by Cimphony’s customer momentum, saving 80%+ on legal bills, and their thoughtful approach to redefining a company’s relationship with their legal counsel.”
But that figure may very well have been AI-hallucinated.
TL:DR CimphonyAI appears to be ironically enough—a startup that’s about to need the help of a law firm.
As of this writing, CimphonyAI’s founders, particularly Nanavati, whom Tewson called out on X, have not responded to the concerns.
Moral of the story: maybe don’t put your legal needs on auto-pilot.
Information for this story was found via the sources and companies mentioned. The author has no securities or affiliations related to the organizations discussed. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.
