Spanish couple misses Puerto Rico flight over AI Visa advice

MADRID, SPAIN: A Spanish influencer couple, Mery Caldass and Alejandro Cid, were refused to board on a flight to Puerto Rico after trusting an AI chatbot visa misguidance.

The couple, famous for their travel content on TikTok, told that the chatbot advised them, they do not require visa being Spanish citizens traveling to the Caribbean Island.

In a TikTok video that has collected over 6 million views, Caldass emotionally told the scenario:

“I always to too much research before I proceed, but this time relying on the ChatBOT, I asked, and in response I got reply No Visa is required,” she said. “Now, I don’t trust it.”

The couple had planned their trip to attend a Bad Bunny concert in Puerto Rico. However, at the airport, they were mentioned that Spanish nationals do not require a traditional visa, but they have to get an Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) before they plan to enter the U.S. territory.

Caldass making fun expressed his thoughts that the AI chatbot visa misguidance was done intentionally, citing past insults she had directed at the AI:

“Sometimes I call and feel it useless, maybe this was result.”

The AI chatbot visa misguidance incident triggered widespread online. Critics rebuked the couple for relying solely on an AI chatbot for their major travel documentation, while others protected the tool, telling the couple may have asked an inexact question.

Experts have since repeated that while AI tools can assist with general queries, they should not swap official sources for critical travel information.

Earlier, a separate similar case increased risks of relying on artificial intelligence, when a 60 years old man got hospitalized after following ChatGPT diet advice, leading him to exchange table salt with a toxic compound.

According to details, the man who was concerned about his sodium intake, took ChatGPT’s advice to tell him how to stop using sodium chloride (table salt) from his diet.