An Australian mayor has threatened legal action in response to false information shared by advanced chatbot ChatGPT.

Brian Hood, Mayor of Hepburn Shire Council, claims the OpenAI-owned tool falsely claimed he was imprisoned for bribery while working for an Australian national bank subsidiary.

Mr Hood, in fact, was a whistleblower who was never charged with a crime.

His lawyers have sent a concerns notice to OpenAI, which is the first formal step in an Australian defamation action.