City Council Replaces Zoning Board With ChatGPT, Approves 11 Wendy's in One Block
CEDAR RAPIDS, IA — The Cedar Rapids City Council voted 4-3 on Monday to replace its seven-member Zoning Board of Appeals with a ChatGPT-based system that, in its first four hours of operation, approved 147 permit applications — including 11 separate Wendy’s restaurants on the same city block.
The system, purchased from a vendor called GovMind AI for $8,500 per month, was pitched to the council as a way to “eliminate bureaucratic delays and bring zoning into the 21st century.” It was given full authority to approve or deny land use applications with no human review.