AI Scheme Unlocks Free McDonalds For Months
Understanding ChatGPTs Versatile Power
ChatGPT is a powerful artificial intelligence designed to generate written content and assist with a wide array of daily tasks and queries. Whether you need a detailed recipe for a chocolate cake, instructions for a new dish, or advice on diverse topics like makeup, finance, relationships, or fashion, ChatGPT is equipped to help. Programmers can leverage AI to write code in languages like C++, Java, or Python. Since the release of version 4 by OpenAI, it can even generate images using DALL-E. The potential applications are vast, primarily bounded by one's imagination. However, despite the high quality of its responses, it is always wise to verify the information, as AI is a tool and not a replacement for human expertise.
The Unforeseen Application AI For Free Fast Food
Among the many imagined uses for ChatGPT, facilitating free McDonalds meals was certainly unexpected. Yet, this is precisely what one individual managed to achieve with relative ease. This situation highlights a crucial aspect of AI: artificial intelligences often cannot predict the consequences of their actions, which means they can inadvertently simplify fraudulent activities. While AI can be used for tasks like completing assignments or drafting documents, its capabilities can also be exploited for impersonation or, as we see here, manipulating systems for personal gain. Such resourcefulness in daily life can sometimes be seen in various contexts, from technological exploits to personal choices, like the story of a father's dedication to his child's happiness through gaming.
How The AI Powered McDonalds Scheme Worked
A young British man demonstrated considerable creativity in devising a method to eat for free at his local McDonalds, and ChatGPT turned his idea into a remarkably simple process. In fact, a single prompt to the AI and a few straightforward steps were all it took for him to obtain approximately one hundred free meals.
The scheme capitalized on the customer satisfaction questionnaires found on McDonalds order receipts. Each receipt includes a unique code that provides access to an online survey about the customer's experience. While many customers overlook these surveys, this individual utilized them systematically. His strategy was simple: use ChatGPT to generate complaints. He would instruct the AI to write a compelling text, under 12,000 characters, describing a terrible experience while ordering a sandwich.
After generating the complaint, he would copy and paste it into the survey. Dozens of these negative reviews were submitted, prompting the restaurant to contact him and offer one or more vouchers as compensation. These vouchers then granted him access to free meals. If a particular AI-generated review didn't seem effective enough, he would simply ask ChatGPT for a quick rewrite.
The Aftermath And McDonalds Response
This operation continued for nearly a year before the local McDonalds branch became aware of the suspicious pattern of complaints. Consequently, he was no longer able to receive any free vouchers. The restaurant also reportedly displayed posters encouraging customers to submit positive reviews, likely an effort to improve its rating, which had presumably plummeted due to this sustained campaign of AI-generated negative feedback. The man has since detailed his scheme on a podcast he hosts. The ingenuity displayed in this McDonalds hack, albeit ethically dubious, is a reminder of how systems can be creatively navigated, not unlike how some public figures optimize their lives for focus, as explored in discussions about billionaires' clothing habits for productivity.
