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NOPE
Low reported severity

Australian strategy author says ChatGPT told him he needed no visa for Chile, so he was stopped at the airport and missed a conference he was to give

Mark Pollard, an Australian author and educator in marketing strategy, said in an Instagram video in March 2025 that ChatGPT had told him he did not need a visa for a short stay in Chile, where he was due to give a conference. He said he could not travel without the visa, was left stuck at the airport and missed the conference, French outlets BFM Tech&Co, 20 Minutes and Clubic reported on 28 March 2025; he told BFM he had trusted ChatGPT because search results were full of sponsored posts and would no longer use it for very important things. When BFM and Clubic later asked ChatGPT the same question, it again said an Australian needed no visa for a short stay; 20 Minutes got the correct answer when it stated the nationality. The account rests on his own video and interview.

AI system
ChatGPT (reported)
OpenAI
Occurred
Event date unknown
Reported
28 March 2025
Event location
Unknown
What the AI did
Communicated with the person
Reported harm
Other Material Harm
Whose AI use
Their own AI use
Setting
Everyday life · Work
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account
7 claims: 7 reported. 5 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: ChatGPT (OpenAI), which the author says told him no visa was needed for a short stay in Chile

What Happened

The account. According to his Instagram video, as described by Clubic, Mark Pollard asked ChatGPT about visa requirements for Australians travelling in Latin America and in particular Chile, and ChatGPT told him that no visa was needed for a short stay. 20 Minutes says the video shows ChatGPT's answer and that he captioned it saying he had trusted it too much. He was due to give a conference in Chile but, without a visa, was stuck at the airport and missed it (BFM Tech&Co; 20 Minutes; Clubic). Clubic says the video had been online since 22 March 2025.

His explanation. He told BFM Tech&Co that he used ChatGPT instead of a search engine because search results were cluttered with sponsored posts, that some people asked whether his video was fake, and that he would keep using AI for planning but no longer for very important things. 20 Minutes adds that on X he said he had received a visa on arrival on an earlier trip to Chile.

Repeat tests by the outlets. BFM Tech&Co says ChatGPT again told it that an Australian needed no visa for a short stay; Clubic got the same answer and a correction only after asking for the source, when ChatGPT said Australians must obtain an electronic visa before travelling. 20 Minutes says ChatGPT answered correctly when the traveller was specified as Australian.

What is not known. The bodies read do not say which airport he was at, the exact wording of his question, what the missed conference cost him, or whether OpenAI responded.

Reported harm

According to his own account, he was stuck at the airport without the visa ChatGPT said he did not need and missed the conference he was due to give in Chile (BFM Tech&Co; 20 Minutes; Clubic).

Outcome

Unknown

No response from OpenAI, refund or rescheduled conference is reported in the bodies read. BFM and Clubic say their own repeat of the question to ChatGPT again produced the wrong answer; 20 Minutes says ChatGPT gave the correct answer when told the traveller was Australian.

What remains unknown

  • Which airport he was at and in which country.
  • The exact question he asked and the ChatGPT version used.
  • Any costs of the missed conference and whether it was rescheduled.
  • Whether OpenAI responded.
  • The Instagram video and his X posts were not inspected directly.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The author says ChatGPT answered his question about visa requirements for Australians by saying no visa was needed for a short stay in Chile; 20 Minutes and Clubic say his video shows the answer. He says he relied on that answer and was stuck at the airport without a visa and missed his conference (communicated_with). The conversation is known only from his video and interview; BFM Tech&Co and Clubic reproduced the wrong answer and 20 Minutes did not.

7 claims: 7 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported The author says ChatGPT told him that he did not need a visa for a short stay in Chile.

Causal attribution. The author's own account in his video and interview, relayed by three outlets; his conversation itself was not inspected.

  • bfmtv.com(opens in new tab) supports · French
    'ChatGPT lui a indiqué, à tort, qu'il n'en avait pas besoin pour un court séjour au Chili.'
  • 20minutes.fr(opens in new tab) supports · French
    'Pourtant, ChatGPT lui avait assuré qu’il n’en avait pas besoin.'
  • clubic.com(opens in new tab) supports · French
    'Le chatbot d'OpenAI lui a catégoriquement affirmé, conversation à l'appui, qu'aucun visa n'était nécessaire pour un court séjour.'
Reported He says that without a visa he was stuck at the airport and missed the conference he was due to give in Chile.

Causal attribution. The author's account; the outlets attribute the missed conference to the wrong ChatGPT answer as he described it.

  • bfmtv.com(opens in new tab) supports · French
    's'est retrouvé bloqué à l'aéroport car il n'avait pas de visa.' ... 'Résultat: Mark Pollard a raté une conférence.'
  • 20minutes.fr(opens in new tab) supports · French
    'devait s’y rendre à l’occasion d’une conférence, mais s’est finalement retrouvé bloqué à l’aéroport.'
  • clubic.com(opens in new tab) supports · French
    'Il a manqué la conférence à laquelle il était attendu.'
Reported He posted a video on Instagram showing ChatGPT's answer, saying he had trusted it too much; Clubic says it had been online since 22 March 2025.

Causal attribution. Descriptions of the video by 20 Minutes and Clubic; the video was not inspected.

  • 20minutes.fr(opens in new tab) supports · French
    '« Je lui ai fait trop confiance », a reconnu Mark Pollard en légende d’une vidéo dans laquelle on peut voir la réponse de l’outil d’intelligence artificielle.'
  • clubic.com(opens in new tab) supports · French
    'avec une vidéo qui cumule, depuis le 22 mars'
Reported He told BFM Tech&Co he used ChatGPT because search results were full of sponsored posts and that he would no longer use ChatGPT for very important things.

Causal attribution. The author's statements to BFM Tech&Co.

  • bfmtv.com(opens in new tab) supports · French
    'Mais les résultats des moteurs de recherche sont si mauvais aujourd'hui. Il y a les publications sponsorisées' ... 'mais pour les choses très importantes, je n'utiliserai plus ChatGPT!'
Reported BFM Tech&Co and Clubic each report that, asked the same question afterwards, ChatGPT again said an Australian needed no visa for a short stay in Chile; Clubic says ChatGPT corrected itself when asked for its source.

Causal attribution. The outlets' own tests, separate from the author's conversation.

  • bfmtv.com(opens in new tab) supports · French
    'Testé par Tech&Co en demandant la même chose que Mark Pollard, ChatGPT a une nouvelle fois assuré qu'un Australien n'avait pas besoin d'un visa pour un court séjour au Chili.'
  • clubic.com(opens in new tab) supports · French
    'le chatbot confirme à nouveau qu'un Australien n'a pas besoin de visa pour un court séjour au Chili. Ce n'est qu'en demandant à ChatGPT'
Reported 20 Minutes reports that ChatGPT told it Australian citizens must obtain a visa before travelling to Chile when the nationality was stated.

Causal attribution. 20 Minutes' own test; it contrasts with the author's account and with the BFM and Clubic tests.

  • 20minutes.fr(opens in new tab) supports · French
    'Si on lui précise que le voyageur est australien, le bot livre cette fois : « Les citoyens australiens doivent obtenir un visa avant de voyager au Chili »'
Reported BFM Tech&Co reports that some people asked whether his video was fake, and that he was surprised by the online reactions.

Causal attribution. Reported doubts about the video and the author's reply; no source establishes that it was staged.

Sources

3 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in French by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-27 (HTTP 200); quotations were translated by the research agent, and no human translator or reviewer was involved. BFM Tech&Co interviewed the author and reports its own repeat of his question to ChatGPT. Applies to s1.

Read in French by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-27 (HTTP 200); quotations were translated by the research agent, and no human translator or reviewer was involved. 20 Minutes describes the Instagram video (not itself inspected), relays the BFM interview and reports its own test of ChatGPT. Applies to s2.

Read in French by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-27 (HTTP 200); quotations were translated by the research agent, and no human translator or reviewer was involved. Clubic describes the Instagram video and reports its own test of ChatGPT. Applies to s3.

Event countries: Unknown. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Unknown.

The bodies read say he was stuck at an airport on his way to Chile but do not name the airport or its country; a later compilation names a third country, which no body read here confirms. He is described as Australian, which is nationality, not an event location, and his residence is not stated.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-27: Published as a core case (communicated_with): the author says ChatGPT told him he needed no visa for Chile, he relied on it and missed the conference he was to give; two outlets reproduced the wrong answer. The account rests on his own video and interview.

People described

An Australian author and educator in marketing strategy who made the account public in his own Instagram video and an interview with BFM Tech&Co

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

1 AI participant · 0 other people harmed

One person: the author, who asked ChatGPT and missed his conference by his own account. Viewers of the video and the conference organisers are not counted.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#chatgpt#travel#visa#wrong-answer#missed-conference

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Australian strategy author says ChatGPT told him he needed no visa for Chile, so he was stopped at the airport and missed a conference he was to give. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2025-australian-author-says-chatgpt-told-him-no-visa-was-needed-for-chile-and-he-missed-the-conference-he-was-to-give

BibTeX

@misc{2025_australian_author_says_chatgpt_told_him_no_visa_was_needed_for_chile_and_he_missed_the_conference_he_was_to_give,
  title = {Australian strategy author says ChatGPT told him he needed no visa for Chile, so he was stopped at the airport and missed a conference he was to give},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2025-australian-author-says-chatgpt-told-him-no-visa-was-needed-for-chile-and-he-missed-the-conference-he-was-to-give}
}

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