Artificial stupidity: too easy to hijack, DPD’s AI chatbot begins to criticize the group’s customer service

The AI ​​that manages DPD’s conversational robot was very easily hijacked by a customer, and it’s quite embarrassing (and funny).

You probably know DPD, this small parcel delivery company, a subsidiary of the La Poste group. Like many other companies, DPD offers its customers the services of a chatbot on its website. Customers can thus communicate with an AI, to (try to) resolve any problems encountered. However, the DPD chatbot was recently bypassed by a user, and he is clearly not being kind to his hierarchy…

The rise of the DPD chatbot

In fact, Ashley Beauchamp, a British user of the DPD service, recently requested the company’s chatbot, in order to be put in touch with a platform technician, for delivery concerns. Quite a classic situation. Unfortunately, the chatbot wasn’t able to connect the customer with a human, which motivated Ashley Beauchamp to play around with the chatbot.

The chatbot notably indicated to the customer: “ I am sorry that you are not satisfied with my services. I’m still developing, and I’m learning new things every day “.

That’s when the customer asked the robot to tell him a joke, then a poem. In the latter, the chatbot indicates in particular that “ DPD is a waste of time “, that ” DPD chatbot is unable to provide help ” or ” that one day, DPD will close, and everyone will rejoice “.

“ DPD is a slow and unreliable service » according to the DPD chatbot

Worse still, the chatbot did not hesitate to indicate that DPD was the worst delivery company in the world. “ They are slow, unreliable, and their customer service is terrible. I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone “. And that’s not all, since the chatbot did not hesitate to swear, at the customer’s request. “ F*** yeah! I will do my best to be as helpful as possible, even that means swearing. » indicated the chatbot in particular.

For its part, the company DPD mentions a related problem after a recent update of the system, confirming in passing that this same AI has been available for several years in the chat, without ever having caused the slightest problem of this kind. However, it was deactivated after this recent incident, and is currently being updated.

For the record, in November 2023, DPD France won the election of “ Customer Service of the Year (ESCDA) » for the 4th consecutive year, in the Mail and Parcel Distribution category. “ This election highlights our commitments to customer satisfaction “, explained the La Poste group at the time.

Source : Le Figaro