An AI chatbot goes horribly awry in Transcend’s warning to advertisers everywhere

An AI-powered chatbot that generates breakfast recipes—what could go wrong? This is the narrative of a new spot from digital privacy firm Transcend, in which a single goof leads to a deluge of unwanted repercussions. The text-driven video, developed with brand consultancy Red & Co., follows a hypothetical brand as it releases “Breakfast Yumbot” into the world. A narrator, presumably an executive at this fake company, promotes with gusto the new product. “Easy peasy!” he declares. “Fast and cheap!” But as he reads off Yumbot’s instructions for a pancakes recipe, the good vibes suddenly take a nosedive when the AI suggests adding bleach as an ingredient. The ensuing backlash is a PR nightmare that should trigger most brands, devolving from a lawsuit to the narrator’s public resignation to the changing of the company’s name. “Went too fast!” the narrator laments. “Ruined everything!” While lighthearted, the ad gestures to a serious reality for brands activating in the AI space. Chatbots, among other forms of AI, are prone to making errors, and marketers could wind up with egg on their face depending on the severity of the mistake. Tech companies like Meta and OpenAI—both of which partner with many brands—have already dealt with numerous outcries over false or inappropriate content generated by their machines. The lack of regulation fuels the insecurity surrounding AI. The White House last week issued an executive order addressing many of the problems posed by the technology, but the arrival of official legislation is still far away. Herein lies a tension for many advertisers between wanting to be responsible and staying competitive. “When businesses use AI without code-level governance, they gamble with uncertainty—putting their data, IP, trade secrets, private information, reputation and credibility on the line,” Kate Parker, chief operating officer of Transcend, said in a statement. For Transcend, the purpose of the ad is to promote its new AI governance tool, Pathfinder, which helps companies establish technical guardrails around their AI tools.

An AI chatbot goes horribly awry in Transcend’s warning to advertisers everywhere

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