Divorce Algorithm: It’s Hard to Tell Whether a Relationship Is Right or Wrong, but It’s Easy to Calculate the Division of Property
Another celebrity couple is getting divorced. Currently, the divorce rate is rising year by year, but divorce is not like getting married and getting a marriage certificate. There are many issues involved before divorce, such as property division, child custody, and joint debts. These require a huge amount of effort, financial resources, and time. In response, some technology companies use AI algorithms to simplify the process and help divorcees and lawyers.
Yet another couple's divorce has dominated media headlines.
On July 28, the news that Ma Yili and Wen Zhang announced their divorce was all over Weibo again. This was only one month away from the last divorce headline: Song Hye Kyo and Song Joong Ki announced their divorce on June 27.
Although divorce is no longer a sensitive issue in today's society, stories of public figures breaking up always make people sigh.
Marriage is not easy, and neither is divorce
For the spectators, seeing such divorce news, they just need to watch the news quietly. But for the parties involved, divorce is not as simple as a Weibo post or news. They also have to face a series of court procedures such as property division and child custody determination.
Divorce is even more difficult for billionaires.
At the beginning of this year (January 10), the world's richest man and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced his divorce from his wife of 25 years, MacKenzie Bezos, via Twitter, shocking people around the world.
In addition to being shocked, everyone is also very concerned about the division of this billionaire's property.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Bezos' net worth reached $137.2 billion (about 934.5 billion yuan) at the time. It was not until April 5 that the property division plan was finally settled, and his ex-wife received $35.8 billion (even so, Bezos is still the world's richest man).
It took nearly three months from the announcement of the divorce to the completion of the division of this huge fortune. All the processes have not yet been completed, and it is expected that it will take some time to complete the final division. The division of the Bezos couple's fortune is the largest and most complicated in history.
Divorces of billionaires are not easy. When oil tycoon Harold Hamm divorced his wife Sue Ann Arnell, he paid a divorce fee of $970 million. Because the two did not sign a prenuptial agreement, Sue Ann Arnell changed her mind after receiving the divorce fee and appealed for part of the $13.7 billion. The divorce case lasted for three years, which was time-consuming and exhausting for Hamm.
For ordinary people, although it does not require huge economic costs, it still requires a lot of time and energy costs.
Moreover, for most couples whose marriages have come to an end, disagreements over the distribution of property or children usually affect their future relationship.
Sometimes, even if they spend a huge amount of money to hire a mediation lawyer, the final result may still be endless disputes or even a fight in court, which also increases their mental stress.
A number of technology companies have emerged in the United States that are using artificial intelligence technology to help couples whose marriages are breaking up complete the divorce process in a more friendly, easier and less costly manner.
This company helped the couple divorce in a flash
There is an old Chinese saying: It is better to destroy ten temples than to destroy a marriage.But Wevorce, a startup based in Silicon Valley, specializes in breaking up marriages.
Wevorce was founded in 2012 by former lawyer Michelle Crosby and marketing executive Jeff Reynolds. It focuses on "friendly divorce" and provides clients with professional dissolution services.
The original intention of the company's founder, Michelle Crosby, to start the company was also motivated by her own personal experience.
Crosby, now 43, still can't forget the scene when her parents divorced when she was 9 years old. She will always remember that during her parents' divorce mediation, she had to attend court 15 times for custody issues, and she will never forget being asked by the judge: "If you were on a deserted island, would you rather live with your father or your mother?"
In the United States, many families are still facing the cumbersome procedures of divorce, which also has a negative impact on many children like her when she was a child. Therefore, she founded Wevorce, hoping to help more families.
It combines mediation and collaboration principles with technology in the hope of simplifying the path to divorce. Specifically when it comes to divorce lawyers, AI can help couples resolve their issues faster and cheaper.
Wevorce’s work focuses on simplifying certain legal tasks through AI, including:
- Review documents
- Conduct legal research
- Assistance with due diligence
- Property and contract classification and review management
Generally speaking, the divorce process requiresLasted a year and cost nearly $30,000; and through Wevorce, customersIt only takes three months and costs an average of $5,000., you can resolve all aspects of divorce, from property division and child custody to minimizing the impact and dealing with rumors on social media.
The process is tailored to each couple, and Wevorce has an algorithm similar to how Netflix recommends movies.Division of assets, shared parenting plans, other important decisionsRelated issues.
The algorithm then uses a combination of alternative dispute resolution techniques and its unique six-step approach to recommend a compromise solution based on both parties’ answers.
In a traditional divorce, spouses hire their own attorney to represent them. Wevorce lets them sit down with a neutral attorney who guides them through every step.
Using the platform, divorcing couples can avoid having to meet with each other and determine a parenting plan that will serve the best interests of the children, establish financial needs and division of responsibilities, and sign final settlement documents.
Wevorce also saves divorcing couples money because they don’t have to hire a divorce attorney.
Not only does Wevorce help users save money, but it also provides emotional support to divorcees going through a tough time by showing them positive articles every time they open the app.
Of course, every family is different, so Wevorce offers a free initial consultation after which couples can decide whether they want to use its approach.
If necessary, there are also experts in child psychology and asset management who can provide face-to-face or online consultations with users. Studies have shown that if parents accept mediation during the divorce process, children will suffer less harm from the incident.
And if a user has complex issues, like large-scale estate plans, debt or domestic violence, the divorce process should still be guided by a human attorney.
It seems that Bezos, the richest man in the world, may not be suitable for using this platform yet.
I hope everyone can worry less about AI
In addition to helping divorcing couples reduce mental and financial losses, AI has also been of great help to lawyers, and it has gradually gained a place in the law.
AI is very helpful for slow, expensive, labor-intensive and error-prone tasks such as contract review. Moreover, AI can analyze data to help humans better predict the outcome of legal proceedings. Lawyers can also be freed from these repetitive and tedious tasks and devote more energy to more valuable work.
According to foreign media analysis, commercial banks and companies in the United States need to spend thousands of lawyers' time to interpret commercial loan agreements, which can now be done in seconds through AI.
Although AI can provide great help in divorce today, we still hope that everyone can have a happy marriage without having to use these tools to help with friendly divorces, so that AI can worry less about this matter.
Believe in technology, and believe more in love.
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