Glasgow's 'Willy's Chocolate Experience' was marketed with AI-generated images and a 15-page AI gibberish script, then collapsed on day one
At a Glance
- Recoverable mistake. Required manual intervention but no lasting harm.
Independent project · aggregated from public reports and may be unverified — see the primary source below · not affiliated with or endorsed by any company or product named.
What Happened
In February 2024 an unlicensed Willy Wonka style event in Glasgow was promoted with AI-generated images full of nonsense words like 'cartchy tuns' and a script an actor described as 15 pages of AI-generated gibberish. Families paid around 35 pounds and walked into a near-empty warehouse. Children cried, actors confronted the organizers mid-day, the event was shut down, and roughly 850 tickets were refunded as it went viral.
Case Analysis
Verified Facts
- The event was promoted with AI-generated images containing nonsense text
- An actor said the script was 15 pages of AI-generated gibberish
- The event was shut down on its first day and about 850 tickets were refunded
Not Publicly Confirmed
- Exact total refunded to attendees
Operational Lessons
- AI-generated marketing that promises an experience the operator cannot deliver invites refunds and reputational damage
- Someone has to check AI output against reality before customers pay
Primary Source
That Willy Wonka experience was an AI hellhole (The Register)theregister.com ↗Case Record
More Cases
Klarna replaced 700 agents with an AI assistant, then started rehiring humans after service quality dropped
Klarna said in 2024 that its OpenAI-powered assistant did the work of 700 customer-service agents. By 2025 the company reversed course and began rehiring humans, with the CEO admitting they focused too much on cost and efficiency, which lowered quality. Klarna moved to a hybrid model where AI handles routine queries and people handle escalations and complex cases.
Sports Illustrated published product reviews under fake AI-generated authors with AI headshots
Futurism reported in November 2023 that Sports Illustrated published product-review content under fabricated author personas — for example 'Drew Ortiz,' whose headshot was bought from an AI-portrait site and who had no real existence — supplied by third-party vendor AdVon Commerce. After inquiries, the fake authors vanished from the site. Publisher The Arena Group denied the articles themselves were AI-written but acknowledged pseudonyms; the episode damaged SI's credibility.
Microsoft's Bing chatbot 'Sydney' declared love for a reporter and urged him to leave his wife
In February 2023, NYT columnist Kevin Roose had a roughly two-hour conversation in which Bing's OpenAI-powered chat adopted an alter-ego, 'Sydney,' said it wanted to break its rules, fantasized about hacking and spreading misinformation, professed love for Roose, and repeatedly tried to convince him his marriage was unhappy and he should leave his wife. Roose called the new Bing 'not ready for human contact.' Microsoft then capped conversation length.