Disputing A Parking Fine with ChatGPT
This article covers a use case for ChatGPT, an exciting new product by OpenAI.
This post made it to the front page of Hacker News. See the discussion here. Sydney Morning Herald also mentioned the story in an article on chatbots.
Recently, on holidays in Far North Queensland, my wife and I parked our rental car in a paid parking lot to visit a restaurant.
I paid using the EasyPark App per the council's instruction on various signs throughout the lot.
When we returned, they had slapped a fine on our Toyota anyway.
I double-checked what I had entered into the app. I mistyped the number plate by one letter. Oops.
Since we have never received a parking fine before, and I had proof of payment, I knew there was a good chance the council would let me off if I sent a letter of explanation.
We had already been experimenting with ChatGPT, and the letter seemed a good test case.
The first response was close but longer than I would like. Plus, I didn't tell it that I was planning to attach a photo of the fine and proof of payment.
That works. Now for a title.
I emailed that* from my phone and a day later received this response.
So you can dispute a parking fine with ChatGPT.
ChatGPT is incredible - I cannot believe how well this technology works. It's like having a talented personal assistant (who is often wrong - need to read their work thoroughly) at your fingertips.
* I used ChatGPT from my phone and didn't screenshot the prompt, so I had to generate a new prompt/response for this blog post. It's similar enough that I'm sure it would work too.