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 involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 27/10/2026