AI chatbot car salesrobot

Rember when Air Canada was, in 2024, forced to honour an offer made by their chatbot customer service? Turns out a Dealership revoked offer to buy back customer’s BMW, blaming wayward AI chatbot:

After his 2021 BMW required major repairs, Zack Giacomelli decided last month he wanted to sell it back to BMW Toronto — the same dealership from which he bought the used car in 2023.

The whole transaction was handled by Quinn, a chatbot, that made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.

The good feeling didn’t last. Moments later, Giacomelli said, a BMW Toronto sales consultant called to revoke the offer, explaining that Quinn wasn’t a real person, but rather an artificial intelligence chatbot that had made the offer in error.

“He said the offer is not valid,” recalled Giacomelli. “I was shocked, I was astounded, like my jaw was on the floor.”

Indeed, of you don’t want chatbot make offers, don’t use a chatbot. Air Canada discovered this. And if you antropormorphise your chatbot then it should have the same accountability.

After CBC News reached out to BMW Toronto, it reinstated Quinn’s original offer of $27,162.79.

I guess it wasn’t worth the PR nightmare.

Previously: Chatbot advice