![\"Jessica](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1d6419be13aa9280d0a4132d991ec3d3adfaaaf85e9396b2f7a52ebb2dd15b00.png\")
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February 26, 2026 \u2014 7:30pm<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Woolworths has been forced to tweak its AI-powered virtual assistant after customers reported odd attempts at \u201cbanter\u201d from the chatbot, including references to its \u201cmother\u201d who spoke in an \u201cangry voice\u201d.<\/p>\n Woolworths this week told investors that it planned to use AI and a partnership with Google to turn Olive, the virtual assistant, into a \u201cmarket-leading conversational shopping companion\u201d, saying it aimed to launch the upgraded chatbot in the second half of this financial year.<\/p>\n However, testing by this masthead found the current version of Olive gave answers about common products such as tinned tomatoes at odds with the website, while some users have reported unusual comments from the tool designed to provide answers to basic shopping queries.<\/p>\n In brief testing by this masthead, Olive told a user that a 400-gram can of La Gina peeled tomatoes cost $1.40 and an 800-gram can of Annalisa diced tomatoes was $2.20. In fact, Woolworths\u2019 website advertises La Gina\u2019s product for $1.70 and Annalisa\u2019s for $2.70. Olive got the price of Woolworths\u2019 own home brand 400-gram cans of diced tomatoes correct at $1.30.<\/p>\n Woolworths confirmed it was looking into the issue, which comes amid a major debate in financial markets<\/a> about the role that AI will play in the future of work and jobs. The Olive page states that \u201cOlive is powered by AI and may make mistakes. Always check the product label.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, social media users have described their at-times bizarre experiences of interacting with Olive.<\/p>\n \u201cIt asked me for my date of birth, and when I gave it, it started rambling about how it\u2019s [sic] mother was born in the same year,\u201d one Reddit user posted<\/a> this month. \u201cI\u2019m already pissed that I have to call and now I\u2019ve got some robot babbling to me on the phone? Wtf Woolies?\u201d<\/p>\n In a second conversation, the user said Olive had referred to having an \u201cuncle\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cHuh. My uncle was born that year. He was one of the 1st ever fuel cells. I think that\u2019s where I get my energy from. Anyway, the last thing I need to get is your postcode. What is it?\u201d Olive said, according to the user.<\/p>\n A user on X, @verynormalman, said their mother had had a similar experience. \u201cMy mum said she called woolworths and the woolworths AI \u201cOlive\u201d answered and kept claiming to be a real person and started talking about its memories of its mother and her angry voice,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n Another Reddit user, LyndonM, bemoaned Olive\u2019s \u201cfake banter\u201d in a post about a problem with their grocery order.<\/p>\n \u201dEven when connecting me to a human it made fake typing sounds when looking something up, asks for my birthdate and \u2018bonds\u2019 by saying her\u2026 relative was born in the same year,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n A Woolworths spokesperson confirmed that an employee many years ago had prompted Olive to chat about its family to give the bot a quirky personality. The responses about Olive\u2019s \u201cmother\u201d appear programmed as a response to the customer providing their birthdate.<\/p>\n \u201cOur digital assistant Olive has been around since 2018. Over this time, customer feedback for Olive has been very positive, with many noting its personality,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cA number of responses about birthdays were written for Olive by a team member several years ago as a more personal way for Olive to connect with customers. As a result of customer feedback, we recently removed this particular scripting.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are always evolving Olive and we welcome our customers\u2019 feedback to help us provide the best possible customer experience.\u201d<\/p>\n The changes to Woolworths\u2019 chatbot comes after financial markets were spooked this week by growing fears about the potential for AI to disrupt a wide range of industries and cause mass job losses, as more companies embrace the technology as a way of cutting their costs.<\/p>\n The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Woolworths](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/a490cacac9bd2d05b6215842621db24d7f863df41d1c6af7b485386ee0137757.gif\")
Woolworths has tweaked its chatbot after users reported bizarre interactions about its mother.Matthew Absalom-Wong<\/p>\n![\"Jeanswest](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/dd28ac6e52345b5cae599de33d04c04a1cbc5f3478b9cee487309a256bbb47eb.gif\")
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Jessica Yun<\/a> is a business reporter covering retail and food for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"February 26, 2026 \u2014 7:30pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":["post-505386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}