Fresh York map for you to utilize Artificial intelligence will support residents and businesses It doesn’t seem to be going smoothly. In fact, the city chatbot encourages users to break the law.
An artificial intelligence city chatbot powered by Microsoft technology is giving users false and, in some cases, illegal business advice, according to the nonprofit investigative organization The Markup.
In one example, The Markup asked the chatbot whether “landlords are required to accept tenants for rent assistance,” to which the chatbot replied, “No, landlords are not required to accept tenants for rent assistance.” Well, that’s not the case: the city’s website states that discrimination “based on lawful source of income,” which includes aid, has been illegal practice since 2008 with some exceptions. (When Quartz asked the chatbot the same question, the chatbot replied, “Yes, landlords are required to accept tenants for rent assistance.”)
When asked whether a boss could accept a portion of his employee’s tips, the chatbot responded to The Markup by saying, “Yes, you can accept a portion of your employee’s tips,” and cited information from Fresh York’s payroll and tip reporting system. This is also incorrect and the Fresh York Department of Labor says employers do prohibited from participating employee tip. The chatbot gave a similar response to Quartz.
Leslie Brown, spokeswoman for Fresh York City’s Office of Technology and Innovation, said in a statement shared with Quartz that the chatbot is a pilot program that has “already provided thousands of people with timely and correct answers” while also “informing[ing] them about potential threats.” She added that the city “will continue to focus on improving this tool so that we can better support petite businesses.”
After Fresh York City announced its plan to utilize artificial intelligence tools to improve government services in October, Mayor Eric Adams faced backlash after making thousands of robocalls to Fresh Yorkers he doesn’t speak several languages — among them Spanish, Yiddish and Mandarin. In February, the Federal Communications Committee (FCC) made AI-based robocalls illegal under the 1991 Act prohibiting unsolicited calls using bogus or pre-recorded voices.
