By Jay Ganglani
Publication Date: 2026-02-27 12:56:00
A supermarket chain’s artificial intelligence assistant has had its digital wings clipped after it deeply unsettled some customers by claiming to be human and responding to queries with personal anecdotes.
The chatbot, known as Olive, offers a 24-hour service that answers calls from Woolworths customers in Australia, helping them with everything from locating orders to finding their favorite products.
While some have previously praised the “incredibly friendly” AI, users recently expressed concern on social media about its tendency to barge into routine customer interactions with fictional details about their lives and families.
“It asked me my birthdate and when I told it it started talking about how its mother was born the same year,” one user wrote on Reddit.
Another user described an experience where Olive claimed to be a real person as she began talking about memories of her mother.
“AI Olive responded and kept claiming to be a real person…