Mar 29, 2024Single source
NYC MyCity chatbot tells businesses to break the law
AI loose in the worldMisinformationDERIVED
Approved by person, Oct 11, 2026. How entries are approved
A Markup investigation found that New York City's Microsoft-powered MyCity Business chatbot advised business owners that employers could legally take workers' tips and landlords could reject Section 8 vouchers - both violations of NYC law. Mayor Adams acknowledged the bot gave wrong answers but the city initially kept it online.
What this means for youAt work, if you run a business or manage staff, do not rely on a government chatbot for legal rules; check the official city or state agency website or ask a lawyer before acting. In government, agencies that deploy chatbots need checks against the actual law before answers go live.
Sources
- The Markuphttps://themarkup.org/artificial-intelligence/2024/03/29/nycs-ai-chatbot-tells-businesses-to-break-the-law
Incident records from the AI Agent Incident Database by sipi.bot (https://sipi.bot/incidents/), licensed CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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