New York City’s previous mayor, Eric Adams, commissioned a (reportedly) $600,000 chatbot for business owners that was found to provide inaccurate and downright illegal information.
The swift banishment of the chatbot was part of an effort to save money to shore up the city’s budget. Even if it saved zero dollars, though, it seems like a public service to just get rid of the thing.
Farewell, NYC chatbot
Underpinned by Microsoft’s Azure AI system, Adams’ administration rolled out the chatbot in 2023 and almost immediately found itself a magnet for criticism over wasted funds and passing out downright misinformation.
An investigation by The Markup and The City found that the chatbot was advising landlords on how to discriminate against Section 8 housing tenants and telling business owners that they’re legally allowed to skim tips off their employees.
Zohran Mamdani, who took office as New York City’s mayor on January 1, 2026, quickly killed the ‘bot, named MyCity Chatbot. “The previous administration had an AI chatbot that was functionally unusable. It was costing the administration around half a million dollars,” he said at a January 28, 2026, press conference.
“That, in and of itself, is not something that can bridge this kind of a gap, but it’s an indication of the ways in which money has been spent while refusing to account for the actual costs of what these programs are.”
This is one example of government working quickly, as the MyCity Chatbot is officially no more. Whereas once you could access the chatbot here, now the page leads only to a message that reads, “The Chatbot beta test has ended. Please go to NYC.gov to find NYC government information. It serves as the primary online portal for residents, businesses, and visitors to access city services, information, and agency resources.”