Australian supermarket chain Woolworths has reconfigured its AI assistant Olive following customer complaints that the bot claimed to be human and discussed memories of its mother.

Woolworths stated it revised the chatbot's scripting due to feedback, noting that most responses to Olive's "personality" had been "very positive."

Reddit users reported frustration with Olive's "fake banter," with one customer saying: "It asked for my date of birth and then rambled about how its mother was born in the same year." Another described the experience as "aggravating."

A Woolworths spokesperson told the BBC that responses about birthdays were written by a human team member years ago to personalize interactions. "As a result of customer feedback, we recently removed this particular scripting," they said.

In January, Woolworths partnered with Google to enhance Olive with features like meal planning. According to Gartner, 80% of customer service leaders explored or deployed AI agents last year, but only 20% of plans met expectations.

In 2024, parcel delivery firm DPD disabled part of its online chatbot after it began writing poetry and swearing at customers, highlighting ongoing challenges with AI behavior.

Source: www.bbc.com