AI Helps Gig Workers Appeal Uber and Instacart Deactivations

By Daniel Okafor

About a week after a Tennessee Uber driver asked ChatGPT to help appeal his Uber deactivation, he regained access to his account, Business Insider reported.

The driver told Business Insider that he sought advice after Uber deactivated him without a clear explanation. ChatGPT helped produce a letter citing his driver contract and requesting arbitration. The bot also suggested emailing Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi rather than a generic arbitration inbox.

He could access his account again, Business Insider reported. “I followed AI, and I guess it worked,” he said.

The episode shows how a chatbot can help a worker navigate a contract-heavy process with few affordable legal options. It does not establish that AI changed Uber's reasoning.

How are workers using chatbots?

An Instacart worker told Business Insider that he was using ChatGPT to challenge Instacart's claim that he had not followed the correct route to deliver an order.

The worker told Business Insider that Instacart had deactivated him earlier this year. He used ChatGPT to write evidence reports and estimate lost wages.

He also told Business Insider that he had corresponded with Instacart about the case. He asked ChatGPT when to send his latest response and whether pro bono legal help might be available. The bot advised caution. “ChatGPT said to hold off on that for now,” he said. “We're gonna see if we can get a lawyer.”

Business Insider reported that workers using these tools believe chatbot assistance can narrow the gap against large companies. People increasingly use ChatGPT and Gemini for legal, medical and other advice. Their responses often sound authoritative, and a short prompt can produce an official-looking document.

That convenience carries risk. Business Insider warned that AI-generated briefs or legal arguments can contain errors and undermine a worker's credibility.

What does a deactivation dispute require?

Business Insider reported that Uber and Instacart can deactivate ride-hailing and delivery workers' accounts. Some removals concern safety or fraud. Others come without a full explanation.

Workers seeking reinstatement or a settlement must contact the platform and start arbitration. Business Insider described the process as lengthy and difficult because workers must parse binding contracts.

Business Insider reported that because gig workers remain independent contractors, arbitration clauses in platform terms leave many workers with little legal representation and platforms with broad latitude to terminate them.

Can AI produce a persuasive appeal?

Robert Bruno, a professor of labor and employment relations at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, told Business Insider that AI still benefits workers with few alternatives.

“They're not locked out of being able to defend themselves because they lack the financial means to hire a very good labor attorney,” Bruno said.

Bruno said evidence summaries cover only part of the dispute. A worker must also persuade the specific arbitrator hearing the case to restore app access.

“I don't think you could just spit that out of Copilot or Claude,” Bruno said.

Business Insider's examples suggest ChatGPT functions like a drafting clerk, not a lawyer. Other Reddit users told Business Insider they used ChatGPT to draft reinstatement letters to Uber Eats and DoorDash. Some said those messages worked.

What do Uber and Instacart say?

Business Insider reported that spokespeople for Uber and Instacart did not directly address workers using AI to challenge deactivations.

Uber said it uses “data and facts” to evaluate claims “regardless of how an appeal is submitted.” Instacart said it does not “take deactivation lightly” and gives workers a chance to appeal.

Business Insider reported that both companies have previously declined to explain how AI affects their initial deactivation decisions, even as each described human review at a later stage.

Uber said appeals are reviewed by “a real person.” Instacart said, “Final deactivation decisions are always reviewed by a human.”

Where does this leave gig-worker appeals?

AI already operates on the platform side of the relationship. Business Insider reported last month that Uber customer service employees often use AI to write responses to drivers' messages.

Their chatbot may draft an appeal, while another AI system may help the company answer it, with a human reviewing the result.

The Tennessee episode shows a narrow benefit, not a reliable rule. The next test is whether platforms will disclose how AI shapes initial decisions.

For now, Uber and Instacart say humans review appeals and final decisions, but have not disclosed how AI shapes the first decision. Until that gap closes, AI can lower a worker's drafting costs without giving the worker visibility into the process that decides app access.