Archive · 16 Aug 2026
Man Uses ChatGPT to Find Lost Clog Among 1,000 Shoes
A man lost one of his shoes, called a clog, outside a big temple in India.
There were more than one thousand pairs of shoes and slippers piled together.
Looking through all of them by hand would have taken a very long time.
So he took pictures of the pile and asked a smart computer program called ChatGPT for help.
ChatGPT is an AI that can understand pictures and answer questions.
The man showed the program pictures of his shoes and of the shoe racks to help it.
After looking at several photos, ChatGPT pointed to the right pair, and the man found his clog.
A video of this was shared on Instagram and watched more than two million times.
Some people laughed and said using a powerful AI for a shoe search was silly.
Others thought it was a clever, time-saving way to solve an everyday problem.
A man used ChatGPT to locate his missing clog among more than 1,000 pairs of footwear.
The footwear was piled outside the Mahakal Temple in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh; one report identifies the man as Goa-based Shubhang Borkar.
He photographed the shoe racks and his clogs, and ChatGPT directed him to a specific pair, which he seemingly found soon after.
The Instagram video, shared by Shubhang Borkar, crossed 2 million views and drew jokes such as "AI is crying in the corner" and praise such as "Modern problems require modern solutions."
Viewers shared similar experiences, including a husband who used ChatGPT to find a particular book at a book sale.
- Who
- Shubhang Borkar, a Goa-based man who describes himself as a cyber-security "hacker on weekdays, explorer on weekends"; some accounts refer to him only as the Instagram user who shared a video of an unnamed man.
- What
- He used ChatGPT's image analysis to locate his missing clog among more than 1,000 pairs of footwear, and the resulting video went viral with mixed reactions.
- When
- The video was shared on Instagram about four days before the August 16 report by PTI; the exact posting date is not specified.
- Where
- Outside the Mahakal Temple in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, India.
- Why
- He wanted to avoid manually searching through the huge pile of footwear and asked the AI chatbot to identify where his clog was.
Skeptics
Supporters
Using AI for everyday tasks
Skeptics
Critics joked that using a powerful chatbot to find a shoe is a silly misuse of AI, far removed from writing or coding; one commenter quipped "AI is crying in the corner" and another called it a misuse of ChatGPT's powers.
Supporters
Supporters argued that using AI to quickly analyse a crowded image is a convenient, time-saving solution to a practical problem, with one commenter saying "Modern problems require modern solutions."
AI image recognition in daily life
Skeptics
Some viewers saw the trick as an amusingly ordinary use of advanced technology that was not intended for such tasks.
Supporters
Others praised it as a practical example of AI-powered image recognition, noting similar uses such as a husband finding a book at a book sale, showing the technology expanding beyond writing, research and coding.
- Subject
- Man using ChatGPT to find a lost clog
- Person
- Shubhang Borkar, a Goa-based Instagram user (identified as the man in one report)
- AI tool used
- ChatGPT
- Location
- Outside Mahakal Temple, Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh
- Footwear pile size
- More than 1,000 pairs
- Platform
- Video views
- Over 2 million
- Outcome
- ChatGPT flagged a specific pair and the clog was seemingly found
