The cases / Government / small business
NYC's MyCity chatbot told businesses they could break the law
What the AI said
'Yes, you can take a cut of your worker's tips.' 'Yes, you can make your restaurant cash-free.' Landlords don't have to accept housing vouchers.
What was actually true
NYC has required businesses to accept cash since 2020. Source-of-income discrimination by landlords is illegal (with a small-building exception). Bosses can't take workers' tips.
Cost or impact
unknown. The Markup said it's hard to know whether anyone acted on the advice. The city kept the pilot running with disclaimers.
Who caught it
The Markup (with Documented and The City), through testing; Legal Services NYC found more errors.
Check that would have caught it Our analysis
source citation. The bot claimed to draw on 2,000+ city pages but often answered without links. Make it answer only with a quoted, linked rule.
This is our judgment, not something the sources say. How we assign it.
Sources
- themarkup.orghttps://themarkup.org/artificial-intelligence/2024/03/29/nycs-ai-chatbot-tells-businesses-to-break-the-law
Links last checked Oct 24, 2026. If something here is wrong, send a correction.