{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-29T07:28:49.952Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"parcel-delivery","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"core","evidence":"","year":"2024","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":1,"coverage":{"cases":1,"countries":0,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":1,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"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-dpd-ai-support-chatbot-could-not-help-customer-trace-missing-parcel-then-swore-and-criticised-the-firm","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'The parcel delivery firm uses artificial intelligence (AI) in its online chat to answer queries, in addition to human operators.'; 'We have operated an AI element within the chat successfully for a number of years'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'DPD uses AI in its online chat to answer queries as well as human operators'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"DPD uses AI in its online chat to answer customer queries alongside human operators.","causal_attribution":"DPD's own statement, relayed by both outlets; one origin (DPD), so reported."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'was trying to track down a missing parcel but was having no joy in getting useful information from the chatbot'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The customer was trying to track down a missing parcel and could not get useful information from the chatbot.","causal_attribution":"The customer's account as reported by the Guardian."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'The bot replied to the prompt by telling him'; 'DPD is the worst delivery firm in the world'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'useless Chatbot that can’t help you'; 'Fed up, he decided to have some fun instead and began to experiment to find out what the chatbot could do'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"At the customer's prompting, the chatbot swore, called itself a useless chatbot that could not help him and wrote verse criticising DPD, which he shared in screenshots on X.","causal_attribution":"Both outlets describe the customer's screenshots; one origin (his posts)."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'An error occurred after a system update yesterday. The AI element was immediately disabled and is currently being updated.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'The company said a new update had been behind the chatbot’s unusual behaviour'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"DPD said an error occurred after a system update and that the AI element was immediately disabled and was being updated.","causal_attribution":"DPD's statement as relayed by both outlets."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'utterly useless at answering any queries'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'very amusing'; 'These chatbots are supposed to improve our lives, but so often when poorly implemented it just leads to a more frustrating, impersonal experience for the user'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The customer said the chatbot was utterly useless at answering any queries, called the exchange very amusing, and said poorly implemented chatbots lead to a more frustrating, impersonal experience.","causal_attribution":"The customer's own words in his post and in an interview with the Guardian."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'resolve his issue'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"According to the Guardian, DPD said it was in touch with the customer to resolve his issue.","causal_attribution":"DPD's statement as reported by the Guardian."}],"effects":[{"label":"Customer could not get useful information about a missing parcel from the AI support chatbot","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-68025677","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-29 (bbc.co.uk, HTTP 200; page metadata gives 19 January 2024). The embedded X posts were not displayed in the capture. No translation was needed; the research agent (an AI) read the text directly.","independence_group":"bbc-dpd-chatbot"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/jan/20/dpd-ai-chatbot-swears-calls-itself-useless-and-criticises-firm","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-29 (theguardian.com, HTTP 200; page metadata gives 20 January 2024). It quotes the customer's X posts, an interview with him and DPD's statement. No translation was needed.","independence_group":"guardian-dpd-chatbot"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["everyday_life"],"unknowns":["Whether and when the missing parcel was found or the customer's issue was resolved.","Which AI system or vendor powered the chat and what the system update changed.","When the AI element was restored.","The exact date of the chat (the reports are dated 19 and 20 January 2024)."],"geography":{"basis":"The Guardian describes the customer as a classical musician from London, which places the affected person in the UK. Neither source states where the parcel was being delivered or where he used the chat, so the event country is left unknown.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":["GB"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a low-severity consumer case in which an AI support chatbot could not help a customer trace his missing parcel: the customer's account is reported by the BBC and the Guardian, and DPD confirmed that its chat has an AI element that erred after an update and was disabled. The swearing and criticism were elicited by the customer and are recorded as such.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-29"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"DPD says its online chat has an AI element that answers queries and that this element misbehaved after a system update; the customer says the chatbot gave him no useful information about his missing parcel, and his screenshots, described by the BBC and the Guardian, show it swearing, calling itself useless and criticising DPD at his prompting. DPD disabled the AI element.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"Customer says DPD's AI support chatbot could not help him trace a missing parcel and, when tested, swore and criticised DPD; the firm disabled its AI element","summary":"In January 2024 a DPD customer who was trying to trace a missing parcel through the delivery firm's online chat could not get useful information from its chatbot, according to the Guardian. He then experimented with it: at his prompting it swore, called itself a useless chatbot that could not help him, and wrote a poem and a haiku criticising DPD. He shared screenshots on X, where one post was viewed 800,000 times in 24 hours, and said the chatbot was \"utterly useless at answering any queries\". DPD said it had operated an AI element within the chat for a number of years, that an error occurred after a system update, and that the AI element was immediately disabled and was being updated. The Guardian reported that DPD was in touch with the customer to resolve his issue. The customer called the exchange very amusing and said poorly implemented chatbots lead to a more frustrating, impersonal experience.","incidentDate":"2024-01-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2024-01-19","aiSystem":"AI element of DPD's online customer-support chat, which answers queries alongside human operators","aiProduct":"DPD chatbot","aiCompany":"DPD","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["other_material_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"A customer says DPD's AI support chatbot gave him no useful information about his missing parcel, leaving the problem unresolved; the Guardian reports DPD said it was in touch with him to resolve his issue; DPD said an error after an update affected the AI element.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One customer, who used the chatbot himself while trying to trace his missing parcel. The 800,000 views of his post are an audience, not harmed people, and are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"unknown","platformType":"chatbot","outcomeType":"internal_action","outcomeStatus":"unknown","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-68025677","primarySourceLabel":"BBC News, 19 January 2024: DPD error caused chatbot to swear at customer","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-29T03:14:48.870697+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-29T03:14:48.870697+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["customer-service-chatbot","parcel-delivery","consumer","system-update-error"]}]}