Richmond Mayor uses Chat GPT?

April 29, 2026 · 2:36 read

Category: Arts & Culture

Show: Unscripted RVA

Got thoughts? Send us a text here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2513071/open_sms Subscribe to the audio podcast: https://verahouse.buzzsprout.com Follow us: https://instagram.com/ve

Got thoughts? Send us a text here:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2513071/open_sms

Subscribe to the audio podcast:

https://verahouse.buzzsprout.com

Follow us:

https://instagram.com/verahouse.co

In one of the more bizarre stories in recent times, Samuel Parker from the Times-Dispatch inquired through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) what Mayor Avula asked ChatGPT during 2025 and the Mayor’s office actually turned over the records. The Mayor’s team has routinely denied access to or obfuscated lots of other, more important information, like how much is the city spending defending a FOIA lawsuit (the answer is: A LOT — see next story). Nor could we find out what should be readily available, like how many unpaid Public Utility bills are more than 90 days overdue or how many backlog service orders were still outstanding without paying a $2,635 deposit (not the total amount, which could be 2x or 3x more).

But the FOIA for his ChatGPT history was turned over and it is both revealing and disappointing. Parker, rather cleverly, asked about the Mayor’s use of A.I. throughout 2025 and found that he had been asking questions like:

“Answer the following question as if you were Danny Avula: how did the water outage in Richmond and boil water advisory affect you personally?” (It apparently did not reply about or was familiar with the fisticuffs in the grocery stores on January 6th, 2025).

He also asked A.I. to provide a “five-minute graduation speech written for … Thomas Jefferson High School’s commencement ceremony” and also asked for recommendations to write a “persuasive speech on why we need to update the Richmond city zoning code,” which will be a hotly debated topic in 2026. That discussion will require much better answers from city officials and electeds than what A.I can come up with.

Parker also found that Avula used OpenAI’s popular chatbot to help write speeches and letters, prepare for interviews and develop policy documents as well as to help draft some notes and letters to city employees who had lost loved ones, such as, “give me a few words from Mayor Danny Avula to the family of a (person) who was killed.”

Hosted by Myke Metzger & Perri Young:

https://instagram.com/mykemetzger

https://instagram.com/planetperri

Learn more about our studio:

https://verahouse.co

This podcast is produced by ⁠Vera House⁠ — a creative club and media studio based in Richmond, Virginia. Our studio exists to champion creative expression, elevate culture, and produce high-impact content for founders, makers, and modern brands in Richmond.

Cast: https://verahouse.buzzsprout.com