AI-Driven Ice Cream Boat Sales Cause Confusion at Västerås Ica Store

An Ica store in Västerås sold ice cream boats in large quantities with the help of AI. A Facebook post advertised the ice creams, but a bot handled the orders, leading to misunderstandings: one customer accidentally ordered 324 ice creams.

For 199 kronor, customers could book a box of 18 ice cream boats by commenting on the Ica Maxi Hälla's Facebook post.

However, customers had to comment in a very specific way for the order to be processed correctly—otherwise, the AI bot misunderstood the request.

One customer commented that there are 18 ice cream boats in each box. The bot interpreted this as an order and responded that 18 boxes had been reserved, equating to 324 ice cream boats.

Store manager Joakim Ericson says they are reviewing the confusion.

"We manually review the orders afterward to see if anything looks strange. In this case, we contacted the customer," he says.

"A Bit of a Mix-Up"

In response to a comment questioning the price, the Ica store's AI bot replied:

"Sorry, we couldn't understand your comment: It's expensive. Try writing your order more specifically, for example: 'I want to book 2 ICE CREAM BOATS.'"

Similar responses were given to various comments.

Explaining the use of the bot, Joakim Ericson says it saves time.

"It's a fairly new tool we're testing and will evaluate later. We wanted to try it in this context, and it got a bit mixed up."