Virgin Money Forced to Apologize After Chatbot Threatens to Cut Off Bank Customers Who Use the Word 'Virgin'

Financial services company Virgin Money was forced to apologize after its AI-powered chatbot threatened to cut off bank customers who use the word "virgin."

Fintech commentator David Birch shared the interaction with Virgin Money's chatbot in a post to LinkedIn last week. After Birch asked how to merge "two ISAs" he had with "Virgin Money," the chatbot responded, "Please don't use words like that. I won't be able to continue our chat if you use this language," as reported by the Financial Times.

"Rest assured, we are working on it," Virgin Money, a British banking company, said in a statement to LinkedIn. "This specific chatbot is one that had been scheduled for improvements which will be coming soon to customers."

The chatbot appeared to have flagged the word "virgin" as inappropriate.

Virgin Money previously praised their chatbot "Redi," which they said had been trained in local dialects and slang, as reported by The Banker in June 2024.

The bank said they wanted Redi to feel "more human" in a previous conversation with Microsoft, adding that the chatbot can tell jokes and should appear more conversational than robotic.

However, the chatbot featured in the incident reprimanding Birch for his use of the word "virgin" was said to be an older chatbot, a source familiar with the situation told the Financial Times.