A woman is using artificial intelligence to solve some real-life problems.
New Yorker Svetlana used AI chatbot ChatGPT to write a scathing letter to her landlord, forcing them to fix the appliances in her building before accepting a rent hike, she told South West News Service.
ChatGPT is a software that was developed by the artificial intelligence company OpenAI, as a tool that allows people to make elaborate queries and converse with an intelligent bot.
Svetlana, 28, claimed that she was informed of a 0.4% rent increase just days after she filed a request for a decrease, due to the fact that her washer and dryer hadn’t worked for over two years.
The upcharge would bring her total monthly rent from $1,389 to $1,395.
“The rent increase alone was not my gripe,” Svetlana, who declined to provide her last name, explained to SWNS.
“It was the audacity to increase the rent, seemingly in retaliation after I filed a complaint and request for a rent decrease on the basis of decreased building-wide services,” she alleged.
On the contrary, it appeared that her landlord had attributed the rent spike to the fact that their previously busted elevator had been fixed since last year.
Svetlana sent many unanswered emails to her landlord before ultimately turning to ChatGPT, asking the bot to pose as a housing lawyer so the wily tenant could fire back with her most convincing legalese and object to the new rental agreement.
She admitted that while it did take a couple of tries to get the perfect strongly-worded email – including prompting the AI system to add some more legal jargon – it ended up working in her favor. Both her washer and dryer were fixed that same month.
“I never received an official response from my landlord.” Rather, she said, “There was a sign posted in my building announcing that the laundry rooms were back in service.”
ChatGPT even added a line to the email citing a specific section of the New York rent stabilization code, which suggested that the proposed rent increase could be considered a “retaliatory” action again the renter.
Svetlana, who works as an executive assistant, already had some experience using the AI software because of her job, but looks forward to applying the technology again in her personal life. For her next campaign, she intends to command the bot to craft a “scary legal letter” to her chain-smoking neighbors who like to light up indoors.
“Their smoke seeps into my apartment and it becomes overwhelming for me. Have decided against it for now,” she warned.