A spokesperson for the supermarket giant said that Olive AI's references to family members and their "angry voice" were not AI hallucinations, but actually scripted by humans. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

February 26, 2026 | Read online
# Woolworths' AI assistant keeps telling people that it has a mother A spokesperson for the supermarket giant said that Olive AI's references to family members and their "angry voice" were not AI hallucinations, but actually scripted by humans.
Woolworths says that its AI assistant, Olive, will stop talking about its “mother” to people calling up to ask about the status of their grocery orders.
A spokesperson for the supermarket company confirmed reports that its “digital assistant" had been telling people about its non-existent family, but attributed the references to intentional scripting and not AI hallucinations.
Over the past month, multiple customers had reported having bizarre experiences speaking on the phone to Olive, which now handles many of the calls made to Woolworth’s customer support.
The Sizzle is a daily Australian tech newsletter. Sign up for a free two week trial by clicking the subscribe button, no credit card required.
Subscribe
After Olive asks for a caller's date of birth, the bot launches into unprompted personal chat — telling the customer that its mother was born in the same year, talking about creating photos, and in one case, according to a post on X, sharing "memories of its mother and her angry voice."
“Olive started rambling about how [sic] it’s mother was born in the same year and something about it creating photos,” one Reddit user wrote.
Another described Olive making fake typing sounds while looking something up, then trying to "bond" by referencing a "relative" born the same year.
"The ick cringe factor whilst wasting completely unnecessary time was enough to make me hate olive and wish her harm."
A Woolworths spokesperson told Crikey that the birthday responses were "written for Olive by a team member several years ago as a more personal way for Olive to connect with customers”, but has since been removed.
Woolworths has used versions of Olive since 2018. Over the years, it’s changed from a chatbot on its website to an "AI-empowered digital assistant" that draws on pre-programmed scripts for some responses, the company said.
Earlier this year, Woolworths announced a deal with Google. Customer service platform company Genesys published a “customer story” about Woolworths using Google Cloud AI to run Olive's voice capabilities.
“[This] shows you can introduce conversational AI without sacrificing the customer experience,” it said.
# The End
😎 The Sizzle is written by Cam Wilson and emailed every weekday. It was created by Anthony “decryption” Agius.
🤖 We love robots at the Sizzle but this newsletter has always been and will always be written by humans for humans. Also by Aussies for Aussies — so all prices are in dollarydoos, of course.
🗣️ Have any feedback, a tip or just want to chat? Send me an email or Signal message. I promise to reply!
💬 Want to hang out with other Sizzlers? There’s a subscriber-only Slack server and forum if you want to procrastinate and chat about tech-related news.
🌐 The Sizzle is on Bluesky, Mastodon and LinkedIn if you’re feeling social.
💳 Paid subscriber looking to manage your billing info, change email address or cancel your subscription? Visit the Beehiiv customer portal.
🎁 Make someone's day and gift them a 12 month gift subscription to The Sizzle.
💔 Don’t want this any more? I won’t take it personally. There’s a unsubscribe button at the bottom of this email or here’s a guide.
🦺 The Sizzle has been tested to meet and exceed ISO 3533 standards.
## Always Was, Always Will Be Aboriginal Land
The Sizzle is created on Gadigal land and acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia, recognising their continuing connection to land, water and community. I pay my respect to them and their cultures and to elders both past and present.
Update your email preferences or unsubscribe here © 2026 The Sizzle PO Box 351 Bacchus Marsh, VIC 3340, Australia
Powered by beehiiv
Terms of Service