UK delivery firm DPD suspends AI chat function after bot swears at customer and writes poem disparaging company
- ‘DPD was a waste of time, And a customer’s worst nightmare,’ wrote the bot, which failed to deliver information about the status of a parcel
- DPD says the AI function was immediately disabled and is currently being updated
“There was once a chatbot named DPD, Who was useless at providing help,” the bot wrote after Ashley Beauchamp gave up trying to get it to share a phone number for customer services and asked it to write a poem about bad chatbot service instead.
“DPD was a waste of time, And a customer’s worst nightmare,” the bot continued before concluding: “One day, DPD was finally shut down and everyone rejoiced. Finally they could get the help they needed, From a real person who knew what they were doing.”
Beauchamp, a pianist and conductor, posted his exchange with the bot on social media platform X on Thursday, since when it has been viewed 1.1 million times.
He said he initially asked the bot to tell him a joke after failing to get information about the status of a parcel and when it did he asked it to write the poem about automated customer service failings. He also encouraged the bot to swear.
Beauchamp told ITV television he had still not received the parcel. “I think they might hold it hostage now. I wouldn’t blame them,” he said. “That’s totally on me.”