Woolworths’ AI assistant goes rogue and starts talking about his mother

When Woolworths executives decided to introduce an artificial intelligence agent into their customer service, they didn’t think it would cause problems with the mother. However, some customers say Olive – as the supermarket giant’s AI is now called – started talking about his mother when they were simply trying to arrange a delivery or ask about a product.

Woolworths’ AI chatbot was launched in 2018 as the brainchild of WooliesX, the grocery retailer’s technology arm. It is one of many AI chatbots that are gradually replacing traditional call centers as the main point of contact for standard customer inquiries about inventory, including store opening times, refund requests and delivery rescheduling. But things have gotten weird lately.

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