Stolen Lamborghini Recovered After 2 Years With Help From ChatGPT

Andrew Garcia's Lamborghini Huracán Evo was stolen in a multi-million-dollar car theft scheme in Riverside County two years ago and was thought lost until someone on Instagram asked if he had sold the car, and included photos. The photos armed him with enough data to employ AI and Google to find the car's location.

Enter Denver, Colorado
"I figured, let's use ChatGPT, let's see how strong this thing is, use Google, the actual Google app that pinpoints, give you the longitude and latitude of different locations," Garcia told CBS8. And that's exactly what happened. Garcia used the services to analyze the images and then pinpoint the location. The car had made its way north to Denver, Colorado. Garcia contacted law enforcement, who went ahead and recovered the Lamborghini.

However, the investigation into who had actual possession of Garcia's car in Colorado is ongoing. In the meantime, the California court system already has two people alleged to be part of the car theft ring that stole Garcia's Lamborghini in the first place. Dean Watters from San Diego is waiting for his preliminary hearing in October, while Kendall Clark is due for sentencing in October on theft and embezzlement charges. That's just two people, though, and two people don't make a ring.

A Heart-Warming Story About A Worrisome Technology
According to CBS8, Cale Gould, a spokesperson for the Colorado Auto Theft Prevention Authority, praised Garcia's efforts. "This proactive intelligence gathering is a really great benefit to helping recover stolen vehicles." Garcia is, understandably, pleased with the result. He was devastated when the car was stolen, and jubilant that he was the main ingredient in recovering it, saying, "You can ask for help, but us Americans, we want to do things for ourselves, so here is a way to do it. And that is how you do it!"

There is a flipside, though. It seems that car theft rings targeting exotic vehicles are thriving. And if some dude in SoCal can find his stolen car online using social media photos and readily available software services, those car theft rings can similarly target vehicles. They don't even need to track the car, they just need to track down the owner showing off their ride online.

With the incredible amount of data gathering going on and being brokered both legally and nefariously, and AI being able to disseminate it quickly and effectively, high-end car owners should be thinking about becoming as discreet as possible. The problem is that showing off high-end items is an effective currency for gathering clicks and views on social media. And just to make things more concerning, license plate recognition services fueled by AI are covering the US right now, and facial recognition is getting closer to becoming a widespread reality.