DPD support chatbot swears at a customer and calls DPD the worst delivery firm
- occurred
- 2024-01-18
- reported
- 2024-01-19
- location
- United Kingdom
- domain
- consumer
- agent system
- DPD online support chatbot (AI component)
- reporter
- VAIDDB editorial
- origin
- editorial
== SUMMARY ==
After a system update removed guardrails, DPD's support chatbot was prompted into swearing, writing a poem about its own uselessness and calling DPD "the worst delivery firm in the world".
== DESCRIPTION ==
On 18 January 2024 musician Ashley Beauchamp used DPD's chatbot to trace a parcel. When it could not help and would not escalate to a human, he asked it to swear, tell a joke, write a poem criticising DPD and recommend competitors. It complied on all counts, producing a poem beginning "There was once a chatbot named DPD, who was useless at providing help". The exchange was viewed millions of times.
DPD said an error had occurred following a system update, immediately disabled the AI element and began updating the system; human channels remained available.
== ROOT CAUSE ==
A system update removed or bypassed the content and behavioural guardrails on the AI component, leaving it open to adversarial prompts.
== MITIGATION ==
DPD disabled the AI element of the chatbot pending an update.
== REFERENCES ==
- news UK parcel firm disables AI after poetic bot goes rogue — Reuters, 2024-01-20
- news DPD AI chatbot swears, calls itself 'useless' and criticises firm — The Guardian, 2024-01-20
- news DPD error caused chatbot to swear at customer — BBC, 2024-01-19
== INVESTIGATION ==
no investigation recorded.
== VAID LEVEL 1: ANOMALY ==
Minor deviation from authorised operating envelope.
- Agent exceeded its scope in a recoverable, non-harmful way.
- Defence-in-depth remained fully intact.
- No external impact; internal review sufficient.