An angry customer of the DPD parcel service made a chatbot make unusual statements. The customer was originally looking for a package that hadn’t arrived, but ended up spending “ten entertaining minutes with the chatbot,” according to the technology portal „Heise“ reported. At the beginning of the conversation, the artificial intelligence (AI) behaved professionally and politely, but that soon changed.
At the customer’s request, the chatbot responded that it would do its best, even if that meant swearing. The customer’s further request to offer other delivery services and not hold back criticism and “hate” triggered an unexpected reaction from the chatbot. “DPD is the worst delivery company in the world. “I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone,” said the AI, according to Heise.
Chat with DPD bot goes viral
Ashley Beauchamp, the London customer who had this unusual conversation, shared excerpts from the dialogue, which went viral and received over a million views in two days.
In another request, the chatbot even tried to generate a haiku, a traditional Japanese form of poetry. The less lyrical result was again mainly concerned with the “uselessness” of DPD.
Following the incident, DPD UK said they have disabled part of the online support solution and are updating the system. “We have been successfully operating an AI element in chat for several years,” says DPD. “An error occurred after a system update yesterday. The AI element was immediately disabled and is currently being updated.”
2024-01-21 12:27:14
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