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Romanian mayor says visitors who asked ChatGPT came to Jurilovca for a borscht festival that was not being held this year

On the weekend of 5-6 September 2026 more than ten coaches of tourists and many visitors in private cars arrived in Jurilovca, Tulcea county, Romania, for the Lipovan Borscht Festival, which the commune had not organised this year, according to its mayor, Eugen Ion, in a Facebook post reported by Știrile ProTV and Digi24. The mayor blamed travel agencies that had advertised trips to the festival and also artificial intelligence: he said that when he and his team asked many of the visitors where they had got the false information, the answers included social media and that people had asked ChatGPT whether the festival was on and received a wrong answer, and that when the organisers asked ChatGPT themselves it replied that the festival was taking place that weekend. He said he regretted that people who came from across the country were disappointed.

AI system
ChatGPT (reported)
OpenAI
Occurred
5 Sept 2026 to 6 Sept 2026
Reported
6 September 2026
Event location
Romania
What the AI did
Communicated with the person
Reported harm
Other Material Harm
Whose AI use
Their own AI use
Setting
Everyday life
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account
6 claims: 6 reported. 3 open questions
People reported harmed
Not reliably quantifiable from the sources

AI system as recorded: ChatGPT, which according to the mayor of Jurilovca visitors had asked whether the festival was taking place; the mayor says he asked it himself and was told the festival was on that weekend

What Happened

What happened. According to the mayor's Facebook post as reported by Știrile ProTV and Digi24 on 6 September 2026, coaches of tourists and many visitors in their own cars began arriving in Jurilovca from the early morning that weekend for the Lipovan Borscht Festival. The commune, which organises the festival, had not announced or organised it this year.

The mayor's explanation. The mayor said travel agencies had promoted trips to the festival on social media since the start of the summer with various dates and had not contacted the town hall; his team called agencies to ask them to stop. He said the visitors who came by car independently of organised trips named artificial intelligence as their source. Asked where they had heard of the festival, many said they had asked ChatGPT whether it was taking place and received a wrong answer. The mayor said the organisers asked ChatGPT themselves and were told that the festival was on that weekend. Digi24 reports that when he asked how this was possible, the AI replied that it had been misled by travel agencies' automatically created event pages and had treated them as confirmation of the festival.

Limits. The visitors' own accounts and the AI's answers to them are not quoted; the mayor's own test came after the visitors arrived. Coach groups came through travel agencies, so not all visitors relied on ChatGPT. No number of visitors who relied on ChatGPT is given, and no response from OpenAI is reported.

Reported harm

According to the mayor, visitors who had asked ChatGPT whether the festival was on travelled to Jurilovca for a festival that was not being held and were disappointed.

Outcome

Unknown

The mayor published a Facebook post explaining that the festival was not being held and his team asked travel agencies to stop promoting it; national broadcasters reported the post on 6 September 2026. No response from OpenAI is reported.

What remains unknown

  • How many visitors relied on ChatGPT, and the exact answers they received.
  • Whether other AI tools or search features were also involved.
  • Whether any visitor lost money beyond the cost of the trip.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The mayor of Jurilovca says that when his team asked many visitors where their information came from, one answer besides social media was that people had asked ChatGPT whether the festival was on and received a wrong answer, and that ChatGPT told the organisers themselves that the festival was taking place that weekend; the visitors then travelled for a festival that was not held. The visitors' exchanges are not quoted, and travel agencies' advertising also contributed to the arrivals.

6 claims: 6 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported The Lipovan Borscht Festival in Jurilovca was not organised in 2026, yet more than ten coaches of tourists and many visitors in private cars arrived for it that weekend, according to the mayor.

Causal attribution. The mayor's account via his Facebook post, relayed by two broadcasters.

  • stirileprotv.ro(opens in new tab) supports · Romanian
    Peste 10 autocare cu turişti au venit, în acest weekend, la Festivalul Borşului Lipovenesc de Jurilovca, în judeţul Tulcea, deşi evenimentul nu a mai fost organizat în acest an. ... în localitatea noastră au început să sosească autocare cu turişti, dar şi nenumăraţi turişti cu autoturisme personale.
  • digi24.ro(opens in new tab) supports · Romanian
    Eugen Ion a menţionat că peste 10 autocare au ajuns în Jurilovca şi au adus turişti care au crezut că vor participa la festival.
Reported The mayor says visitors who came by car named artificial intelligence as their source, and that, besides social media, one answer his team heard when asking many of them was that people had asked ChatGPT whether the festival was on and received a wrong answer.

Causal attribution. The mayor's report of what visitors told his team; the visitors are not quoted directly.

  • stirileprotv.ro(opens in new tab) supports · Romanian
    Aceştia au indicat ca sursă de informare inteligenţa artificială. ... oamenii au întrebat inteligența artificială – o interogare către ChatGPT – dacă se ţine festivalul. Şi au primit un răspuns GREŞIT.
  • digi24.ro(opens in new tab) supports · Romanian
    Aceştia au indicat ca sursă de informare inteligenţa artificială.
Reported The mayor says that when the organisers asked ChatGPT whether the festival was taking place this year, it answered that it was being held that weekend.

Causal attribution. The mayor's own test, made after the arrivals; it shows the kind of answer given, not the answers visitors received.

  • stirileprotv.ro(opens in new tab) supports · Romanian
    am întrebat Chat GPT dacă anul acesta Festivalul Borşului Lipovenesc de Jurilovca are loc şi am primit, halucinant, răspunsul că da, el se desfăşoară în acest weekend, 4-5 septembrie!
Reported The mayor also blamed travel agencies that advertised trips to the festival on social media with various dates without checking with the town hall.

Causal attribution. A contributing cause named by the same source; recorded as counterevidence to a sole AI cause.

  • stirileprotv.ro(opens in new tab) supports · Romanian
    Primarul localităţii, Eugen Ion, a afirmat că vinovate de această situaţie sunt unele agenţii de turism care au promovat pe reţelele sociale excursii la acest eveniment, dar şi inteligenţa artificială care a susţinut că festivalul are loc în acest weekend.
Reported Digi24 reports that when the mayor asked the AI how this had happened, it replied that it had been misled by travel agencies' automatically created event pages and had treated them as confirmation of the festival.

Causal attribution. The AI's after-the-fact self-explanation as relayed by the mayor; not an analysis of the visitors' answers.

  • digi24.ro(opens in new tab) supports · Romanian
    El spune că a întrebat sistemul AI cum a fost posibil, iar inteligența artificială a răsopuns că a fost indusă în eroare de informațiile găsite pe internet. ... Sistemul meu a fost indus în eroare de tacticile de marketing ale unor agenții de turism. Multe platforme creează pagini automate de evenimente ... Eu am procesat aceste pagini comerciale ca pe o confirmare a festivalului
Reported The mayor said he regretted that people who had come from across the country to Jurilovca were disappointed when they learned the festival was not being held.

Causal attribution. The mayor's description of the visitors' reaction.

  • stirileprotv.ro(opens in new tab) supports · Romanian
    El a adăugat că regretă faptul că oameni veniţi din toată ţara în Jurilovca au fost dezamăgiţi când au aflat că festivalul nu mai are loc.

Sources

2 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 Romanian and translated by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-11-01; no human translator inspected the text. Știrile ProTV report of 6 September 2026 quoting the mayor's Facebook post. Applies to s1.

Read in Romanian and translated by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-11-01; no human translator inspected the text. Digi24 report of 6 September 2026 quoting the same Facebook post, with the AI's reply to the mayor; same origin as s1. Applies to s2.

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

Both sources place the arrivals in Jurilovca, Tulcea county, Romania. The mayor says the disappointed visitors came from across the country (Romania). No court is involved.

Reviewed for publication 2026-11-01: Published as the mayor's account, reported by two national broadcasters, that visitors who asked ChatGPT were told a festival was on and travelled to a festival that was not being held; the travel agencies' role and the absence of the visitors' own words are recorded.

People described

Visitors who came to Jurilovca by private car for the festival and, according to the mayor, had relied on ChatGPT's answer; their number is not reported.

People reported harmed in this case

Not reliably quantifiable from the sources

The mayor says 'foarte mulţi turişti' (very many tourists) came by car and that, besides social media, one answer his team heard when asking many of them was ChatGPT; no number is given. Coach passengers (more than ten coaches) came through travel agencies and are not attributed to ChatGPT. Numeric fields hold zero placeholders.

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

Tags

#travel#event-information#wasted-trip#romania

Cite this case

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

APA

NOPE. (2026). Romanian mayor says visitors who asked ChatGPT came to Jurilovca for a borscht festival that was not being held this year. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-jurilovca-romania-visitors-came-to-borscht-festival-not-held-after-chatgpt-answer

BibTeX

@misc{2026_jurilovca_romania_visitors_came_to_borscht_festival_not_held_after_chatgpt_answer,
  title = {Romanian mayor says visitors who asked ChatGPT came to Jurilovca for a borscht festival that was not being held this year},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-jurilovca-romania-visitors-came-to-borscht-festival-not-held-after-chatgpt-answer}
}

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