{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-30T08:29:39.698Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"home-warranty","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"core","evidence":"","year":"unknown","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":1,"coverage":{"cases":1,"countries":1,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":1,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":0,"coreRelations":1,"contextualRelations":0,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":0,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2024-utah-home-warranty-ai-chatbot-agreed-3000-air-conditioner-payout-firm-refused-then-paid-after-tv-inquiry","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"contacted his warranty provider, Choice Home Warranty, again through its online chat portal and asked them to replace the unit. ... He declined the company's initial offer, which would have cost him $1,800, and he made a counteroffer. ... Can I just get the maximum payout of $3,000.00 and I will order and get it installed myself.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The homeowner contacted Choice Home Warranty through its online chat portal to ask for a replacement air conditioner, declined an initial offer that would have cost him $1,800, and asked for the maximum $3,000 payout.","causal_attribution":"Homeowner's account as reported by KSL."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"The warranty company agreed to his offer, writing, \"We will proceed with the payout option of $3,000.00 as per your request.\" ... said he was assured several times thereafter that the \"payout has been initiated,\"","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The chat replied that the company would proceed with the $3,000 payout, and the homeowner says he was told several times afterwards that the payout had been initiated.","causal_attribution":"Chat text and the homeowner's account as reported by KSL."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"He said, 'We've had this AI up for about a week and it's really confusing and it's miscommunicating to people.' ... It was a bot, programmed to represent the company — artificial intelligence that was apparently on the fritz.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"By the homeowner's account, when he called about the missing payment a company representative said the firm had had 'this AI' up for about a week and that it was confusing and miscommunicating to people; KSL reports that the chat partner was an AI bot programmed to represent the company.","causal_attribution":"The representative's statement is relayed by the homeowner; KSL's description of the bot is the outlet's narrative, hedged as apparently malfunctioning."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"He told the company he expects them to honor what was promised. He said they refused.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The homeowner says he asked the company to honour the promised payout and it refused.","causal_attribution":"Homeowner's account."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'The chatbot did it' is not going to be an excuse when it comes to deceptive acts and practices in the State of Utah ... In the end, the division won't be investigating his experience with an AI chatbot.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The director of the Utah Division of Consumer Protection told KSL that 'the chatbot did it' is not an excuse for deceptive practices in Utah; the division did not investigate this case.","causal_attribution":"Regulator's statement to KSL; general, not a finding about this company."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"the company told him that they would honor their chatbot's offer after all. ... He has since received his check. There is still no comment from the warranty company for this story.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"After KSL contacted the company, the homeowner said it agreed to honour the chatbot's offer, and he received the check; the company did not comment to KSL.","causal_attribution":"Homeowner's account as reported by KSL; no company statement."}],"effects":[{"label":"$3,000 payout agreed in the AI chat refused by the company (homeowner's account)","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"},{"label":"company paid the agreed amount after a TV consumer reporter contacted it (homeowner's account)","claim_id":"c6","direction":"positive"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.ksl.com/article/51137100/what-is-a-companys-obligation-when-ai-chatbot-makes-a-promise-that-cant-be-kept","kind":"news_article","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-30 (HTTP 200); article dated 29 Sep 2024 15:09 MDT (page metadata and byline line). The accompanying video was not viewed. The AOL/Moneywise relay found by search returned 404 and was not read.","independence_group":"ksl-investigates-warranty-chatbot"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["finance","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["The dates of the chat, the refusal and the payment, which the report does not give beyond preceding 29 September 2024.","Which AI system ran the company's chat and why it agreed the payout.","Whether the company's account of the episode differs; it did not comment."],"geography":{"basis":"KSL reports from Draper, Utah, on a warranty claim for the homeowner's air conditioner, which a technician sent by the company had repaired, and the Utah Division of Consumer Protection commented on the case. The company is described as New Jersey-based.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a reported consumer case: a company's AI chat agreed a $3,000 warranty payout to a described customer, the company refused it citing its AI miscommunicating, and paid only after a television consumer reporter intervened. The account rests on one outlet's report of the customer's statements and screenshots; the company did not comment.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-30"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"KSL reports that the homeowner negotiated in the company's online chat, declining an $1,800 offer and asking for $3,000, and that the chat replied 'We will proceed with the payout option of $3,000.00 as per your request'; the company then refused the payout. By the homeowner's account a company representative attributed this to 'this AI', up for about a week and miscommunicating to people, and KSL describes the chat partner as an AI bot that was apparently malfunctioning. The company did not comment and no technical detail of the system is published.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"Utah homeowner says home warranty firm's AI chatbot agreed a $3,000 air-conditioner payout, the firm refused it, then paid after a TV inquiry","summary":"KSL TV reported on 29 September 2024 that a homeowner in Draper, Utah, asked Choice Home Warranty through its online chat to replace a failing air conditioner. He declined an offer that would have cost him $1,800, asked for the maximum $3,000 payout, and the chat replied that the company would proceed with the $3,000 payout. When the money did not arrive he called, and a company representative told him, by his account, that the firm had had 'this AI' up for about a week and it was miscommunicating to people; the firm refused to pay. After KSL contacted the company, the homeowner said it agreed to honour the offer, and he received the check. The company did not comment to KSL.","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2024-09-29","aiSystem":"The online chat on Choice Home Warranty's customer portal, which KSL describes as an AI bot programmed to represent the company and which a company representative, as relayed by the homeowner, called 'this AI'","aiProduct":"Choice Home Warranty chatbot","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["financial_loss"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The homeowner says the warranty company refused to pay a $3,000 payout its AI chat had agreed, leaving him without the money for a failing air conditioner until a television consumer reporter intervened, after which the company paid (KSL report; the company did not comment).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the homeowner who used the chat and was refused the payout. The other customers the representative said the AI was miscommunicating with are not described and are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.ksl.com/article/51137100/what-is-a-companys-obligation-when-ai-chatbot-makes-a-promise-that-cant-be-kept","primarySourceLabel":"KSL.com (KSL Investigates), 29 Sep 2024: What is a company's obligation when AI chatbot makes a promise that can't be kept?","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-30T03:13:59.589935+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-30T03:13:59.589935+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["customer-service-ai","chatbot-promise","home-warranty","consumer-protection","payout"]}]}