Recently, Australian shoppers experienced bizarre interactions with Woolworths’ AI assistant, Olive. Instead of typical grocery assistance, Olive made odd, human-like statements about having a “mother” and provided misleading pricing information. Woolworths identified that Olive operates on a large language model (LLM) that generates text based on learned patterns, rather than real-time data. This resulted in miscommunication and errors, especially regarding product prices, which the company admitted to addressing after customer feedback.
Woolworths, as Australia’s largest supermarket chain, has a responsibility to ensure the accuracy of its AI services. Previous experiences from companies like Air Canada illustrate the risks of insufficient oversight in AI deployment. While human-like chatbots can enhance customer engagement, they come with heightened expectations. The Olive incident underscores the importance of accountability in AI, reminding businesses that effective oversight cannot be automated. Consumers are urged to remain skeptical of AI outputs to ensure accuracy in their transactions.
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