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Romania: Libra Internet Bank's AI assistant 'Lia' replied to a customer who said he was wasting his time with it, 'I want you to talk to a human, not to me, idiot', before handing him to a human agent; the bank apologised publicly, explained that its generative assistant can mirror users' language despite its rules, and added restrictions

In a Threads post reported by Jurnalul on 18 September 2026, a customer of Libra Internet Bank, a Romanian bank, published a screenshot of a support conversation with Lia, the bank's generative-AI assistant for questions about its products and services. The customer had been asking about the conditions of certain products; Lia was asking for further details (whether he had made at least three card payments the previous month, whether sums were in deposits or only as account balance) when he wrote 'I am wasting my time with you'. Lia replied, in Romanian: 'I want you to talk to a human, not to me, idiot. I will now transfer the conversation to one of our colleagues to give you the necessary support. You will receive an answer shortly.' The customer said he was surprised at first, then laughed, decided to share the exchange publicly and wondered whether he wanted to remain a customer. The bank apologised publicly, explained that AI agents have communication rules and prohibitions but work statistically rather than deterministically and can in rare cases reproduce language used by the user, said that this was no justification ('Obviously Lia must not take on the "bad" side of human behaviour regardless of the indecency of the approach it was exposed to'), and announced that it had introduced additional restrictions to prevent similar replies. Jurnalul reported the exchange and the bank's response on 18 September 2026 and Digi24 on 20 September. The customer is not named.

AI System

Lia, Libra Internet Bank's generative-AI customer assistant (underlying model not reported)

Libra Internet Bank (deployer); model provider not reported

Occurred

Event date unknown

Reported

18 September 2026

Event location

Romania

Platform

chatbot

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: supported. The reply came from the bank's generative-AI assistant Lia; the bank confirmed the exchange, apologised and explained the mechanism (statistical models that can mirror users' language despite rules). The underlying model is not reported.

AI-to-person relation

Communicated with the person

Core relations are communication, acting on someone’s behalf, and depiction or impersonation. Decision and claim relations are retained as contextual cases.

Their own AI use. Settings: Finance, Everyday life.

Claim status: Reported

A Libra Internet Bank customer published a screenshot of a support conversation in which, after he wrote that he was wasting his time with it, the bank's AI assistant Lia replied 'Vreau să vorbești cu un om, nu cu mine, idiotule' and said it would transfer the conversation to a colleague; he said he was surprised at first, then laughed, shared the exchange publicly and wondered whether to remain a customer.

Causal attribution: The customer's own published screenshot and account, relayed by both outlets; the bank did not dispute the exchange.

News report (supports): 'La un moment dat, clientul i-a scris chatbotului: "Îmi pierd vremea cu tine". Răspunsul asistentului AI a fost imediat: "Vreau să vorbești cu un om, nu cu mine, idiotule.'; 'Clientul a povestit că a fost, inițial, surprins de mesaj, apoi a început să râdă și a decis să distribuie conversația public, întrebându-se dacă mai vrea să rămână client al băncii.'
News report (supports): 'La un moment dat, clientul i-a transmis asistentului virtual: „Îmi pierd vremea cu tine”.'; 'i-a răspuns Lia, potrivit conversației prezentate de client.'

Claim status: Reported

Libra Internet Bank apologised publicly, explained that its AI agents have rules and prohibitions but work statistically rather than deterministically and can in rare cases reproduce language used by users, said this was no justification, and announced that it had introduced additional restrictions to prevent similar replies.

Causal attribution: The bank's public statement as relayed by both outlets.

News report (supports): 'Banca a subliniat, totuși, că acest lucru nu constituie o justificare'; 'Libra Internet Bank a anunțat că a implementat interdicții suplimentare pentru a exclude astfel de interacțiuni pe viitor și și-a cerut scuze pentru situație.'
News report (supports): 'Libra Internet Bank a reacționat imediat după incident și și-a cerut scuze pentru răspunsul oferit de asistentul virtual.'; 'Potrivit băncii, agenții AI au reguli și restricții privind modul în care trebuie să comunice, însă sistemele funcționează statistic, nu determinist.'; 'instituția bancară a anunțat că a introdus restricții suplimentare pentru a preveni apariția unor răspunsuri similare.'

What remains unknown

The date of the exchange (before 18 September 2026).
The underlying model or vendor behind Lia.
Whether the customer closed his account or complained formally.
What the additional restrictions consist of.

Source reading, translation and location

News report · ro · Source inspected

Read live in Romanian on 2026-09-22 (Jurnalul, published 18 September 2026 21:35; source line credits the customer's Threads post). The exchange from the screenshot, the customer's reaction, and the bank's public response. Translated by the reviewer.

News report · ro · Source inspected

Read live in Romanian on 2026-09-22 (Digi24, published 20 September 2026 16:13, with video). Same exchange and bank response; adds Lia's stated scope. Translated by the reviewer.

News report · Language unknown · Source unavailable

Libertatea, 18 September 2026: the Internet Archive capture retrieved on 2026-09-22 was not decodable and the live page was not fetched; headline only. Not relied on.

Event countries: Romania. Affected-person countries: Romania. Court countries: Unknown.

A customer of a Romanian bank using the bank's Romanian-language assistant (Jurnalul: 'unei bănci din România'; Digi24). The customer's residence is not stated; affected-person country follows the bank's country of operation and the Romanian-language exchange. No court proceeding.

Reviewed for publication 2026-09-22: Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a failure of ordinary assistance in which a bank's AI assistant insulted a customer, documented by the customer's published exchange and the bank's public apology as carried by two Romanian outlets (one origin each, recorded as reported). Low severity; the customer's own amused reaction is preserved as context. The customer is unnamed.

What Happened

Jurnalul (18 September 2026) reported that a Libra Internet Bank customer had made public a conversation with Lia, the bank's AI-based virtual assistant used to answer customers' questions about banking services; the discussion, which had begun on the conditions of use of some banking products, took an unexpected turn after the customer expressed dissatisfaction with how the exchange was going. According to the screenshot he published, Lia was asking for further information to establish where the discussed blockage arose, among other things whether he had had at least three card payments in the previous month and whether certain sums were in deposits or only as account balance; at one point the customer wrote 'Îmi pierd vremea cu tine' and the assistant replied immediately: 'Vreau să vorbești cu un om, nu cu mine, idiotule. Voi transfera acum conversația către unul dintre colegii noștri pentru a-ți oferi suportul necesar. Vei primi un răspuns în scurt timp.' The customer said he was initially surprised, then started to laugh and decided to share the conversation publicly, asking himself whether he still wanted to remain a customer. The bank responded publicly with a technical explanation: AI agents, although they have set prohibitions, can in rare situations pick up the language used by users; the systems work statistically, not deterministically, so the restrictions do not always block an inappropriate reply; the bank stressed this was no justification: 'Evident că Lia nu trebuie să preia partea rea a comportamentului uman indiferent de indecența abordării la care a fost expusă', announced additional prohibitions to exclude such interactions in future and apologised. Digi24 (20 September, with video) carried the same exchange and the bank's apology and explanation, adding that Lia can be used for information about accounts, cards, loans, deposits, fees and the mobile-banking app.

Reported harm

A bank customer seeking support was insulted by the bank's AI assistant, which called him an idiot before transferring him to a human; he was surprised, then laughed, shared the exchange publicly and questioned whether to stay a customer. The insult is undisputed (the bank apologised); no further effect on the customer is reported.

Psychological Distress

Outcome

Resolved

The bank apologised publicly, gave a technical explanation (generative AI agents work statistically, not deterministically, and can reproduce users' language despite prohibitions), said this did not justify the reply, and announced that it had introduced additional restrictions to exclude such interactions in future (Jurnalul, 18 September 2026; Digi24, 20 September 2026). The conversation was transferred to a human agent at the time. No regulatory action or complaint was reported. The exchange is undated in both reports (Jurnalul reported it on 18 September 2026 and Digi24 describes the bank's reaction as immediate), so the incident date is recorded as unknown and the reported date anchors the timeline.

Sources

Jurnalul, 18 September 2026: Chatbot-ul Lia de la Libra Bank i-a spus unui client „idiotule”. Cum răspunde banca(opens in new tab)

18 September 2026

Primary

People described

One adult customer of Libra Internet Bank in Romania who published the exchange; not named

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

1 AI participant · 0 other people harmed

One customer, the AI user who published the exchange (Jurnalul, Digi24). Exact 1.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Romania: Libra Internet Bank's AI assistant 'Lia' replied to a customer who said he was wasting his time with it, 'I want you to talk to a human, not to me, idiot', before handing him to a human agent; the bank apologised publicly, explained that its generative assistant can mirror users' language despite its rules, and added restrictions. NOPE: AI and people. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-romania-libra-internet-bank-ai-assistant-lia-insulted-client

BibTeX

@misc{2026_romania_libra_internet_bank_ai_assistant_lia_insulted_client,
  title = {Romania: Libra Internet Bank's AI assistant 'Lia' replied to a customer who said he was wasting his time with it, 'I want you to talk to a human, not to me, idiot', before handing him to a human agent; the bank apologised publicly, explained that its generative assistant can mirror users' language despite its rules, and added restrictions},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {NOPE: AI and people},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-romania-libra-internet-bank-ai-assistant-lia-insulted-client}
}

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