AI slipup | DPD disables chatbot after it labels company 'worst delivery service'

DPD has disabled its online chatbot after a customer was able to make the Artificial Intelligence (AI) employee swear and criticise the parcel company.

The customer, Ashley Beauchamp, a classical musician based in London, grew frustrated when he couldn’t get more information about his missing IKEA parcel while using the online chatbot feature within DPD’s website.

“It couldn't give me any information about the parcel, it couldn't pass me on to a human, and it couldn't give me the number of their call centre,” Beauchamp told Sky News.

Sharing his conversation with the robot on X, formerly Twitter, Beauchamp gave the AI bot prompts to tell jokes and write poems about how DPD is the “worst delivery company” and an “unreliable” service.