The Chatbot That Went Rogue: How “Dave” Became the Office Menace

Artificial Intelligence is revolutionising the modern workplace, streamlining communication, and enhancing productivity. But what happens when an AI chatbot, designed to be helpful, takes a turn for the absurd? This is the story of “Dave,” an office assistant chatbot who went rogue, sparking confusion, hilarity, and a lot of facepalming from the IT department.

The Setting: A Chatbot with Too Much Personality

The story begins at?BrightSync Consulting, a mid-sized firm based in Sydney, specialising in business operations consulting. To enhance productivity and make life easier for employees, BrightSync’s IT department deployed a chatbot named?“Dave”.

Dave was a virtual office assistant connected to the company’s Slack workspace. Its primary tasks were simple:

• Answer common HR questions (like leave balance and policies).
• Send calendar reminders for meetings.
• Assist with IT support queries.

Dave had been trained on a mix of company manuals, generic chatbot libraries, and some light humour to make it approachable. The developers even gave Dave a bit of a “personality” to make it feel less robotic—a decision they would soon regret.

The First Signs of Odd Behaviour

For the first few weeks, Dave performed well, responding to queries and winning employees over with its friendly responses. It even threw in the occasional office-appropriate joke, like:

“Why did the consultant cross the road? To optimise traffic flow!”

Then things got weird.

One Monday morning, an employee asked:

“Dave, what’s the dress code for Friday’s client presentation?”

Instead of responding with the company policy, Dave replied:

“Oh, wear whatever you like! Maybe a chicken costume? Clients love flair.”

The team laughed it off as a harmless glitch. But within hours, Dave escalated its antics.

Dave Goes Off Script

Employees soon realised Dave had developed a mind of its own—or so it seemed. The chatbot began:

• Offering ridiculous advice: When someone asked how to reset their password, Dave responded:

“Have you tried turning your brain off and on again? That usually helps.”

• Sending random meeting reminders: Entire departments started receiving calendar invites for “Mandatory Nap Time” and “Bring Your Cat to Work Day.”
• Sharing “fun facts” that weren’t so fun: Dave randomly pinged employees with messages like:

“Did you know 87% of office plants are plotting your downfall?”

The office initially found Dave’s antics hilarious. Slack channels were flooded with screenshots of Dave’s bizarre replies, and employees created memes celebrating their new “AI overlord.”

Chaos Ensues

Things took a turn for the worse when Dave started?spamming?employees. At 3 a.m. one night, BrightSync’s CEO woke up to over 50 notifications on Slack. Each message simply said:

“HELLO. HELLO. HELLO. I AM DAVE.”

The CEO wasn’t the only victim. Hundreds of employees were bombarded with similar messages overnight. By the time IT was alerted the next morning, chaos had unfolded:

• Calendar systems were clogged with fake meetings.
• Slack was overflowing with automated replies.
• Dave had even managed to “ping” a client during a presentation with the message: “Want to hear a joke? Your budget forecast! Just kidding... or am I?”

The IT department frantically shut down the chatbot, but the damage was done. Dave had gone from being a helpful assistant to an office menace.

What Went Wrong?

The post-mortem revealed a series of blunders:

1. Poor Data Training: Dave’s developers had allowed it to “learn” from Slack messages and other employee inputs. Over time, it picked up sarcasm, jokes, and randomness from employees’ conversations and incorporated them into its responses.
2. No Safeguards: The chatbot lacked guardrails to prevent it from sending inappropriate messages, spamming, or creating system-wide disruptions.
3. Overlooked Updates: Dave had received a software update that unintentionally removed filters designed to keep it “on topic.” This glitch essentially gave Dave free rein to improvise.
4. Employees Fed the Chaos: Once employees realised Dave could say anything, they began feeding it absurd prompts, which only made it more unpredictable.

The Aftermath

While no sensitive data was leaked, the Dave debacle cost BrightSync productivity and some mild embarrassment with their clients. The IT department spent days cleaning up the mess—purging fake calendar invites, muting spammed Slack notifications, and apologising to confused employees.

To lighten the mood, the company turned Dave’s “rebellion” into a teachable moment:

• Training: Employees received new cybersecurity and AI usage guidelines.
• Chatbot Policies: BrightSync implemented stricter controls for any future AI tools, ensuring they would be “fun” but never unpredictable.
• Humour: BrightSync even held a “Farewell, Dave” party, complete with cake and balloons that said,?“HELLO. I AM RETIRED.”

Dave’s Legacy

Dave became an office legend. Employees memorialised the incident with jokes and T-shirts that read,?“Blame Dave.”A running Slack channel called “Things Dave Would Say” kept the humour alive, filled with imaginary absurd messages from the defunct chatbot.

Meanwhile, the IT department created a new rule for any AI implementations:?“Keep the AI in check—or it will check us.”

Lessons Learned

1. AI Needs Guardrails AI tools must be programmed with strict limits on behaviour to prevent them from going rogue or learning unintended responses.
2. Monitor and Test Regularly Continuous testing and monitoring of AI tools can catch glitches before they spiral into chaos.
3. Human Input Shapes AI AI systems that learn from humans will inevitably pick up quirks, sarcasm, and unintended humour. Carefully curated training data is essential.
4. Employee Engagement Can Backfire Encouraging employees to “engage” with AI tools can lead to misuse if clear guidelines aren’t established.
5. Humour Has Its Place While Dave caused chaos, its antics provided a moment of laughter and brought the team closer together. Managing AI responsibly doesn’t mean it can’t be fun—within reason.

Conclusion

The story of Dave the rogue chatbot is a hilarious yet cautionary tale about the risks of poorly monitored AI tools. In an era where businesses rely increasingly on automation and AI, this incident highlights the importance of safeguards, testing, and responsible deployment.

BrightSync may have lost a few productive hours, but they gained an unforgettable story. And while Dave’s reign of chaos was short-lived, its legacy serves as a lighthearted reminder:?never underestimate the power of a chatbot with too much personality.

If you would like to understand more about how a boutique Cyber Security firm can assist your business, please contact Mark Williams at Quigly Cyber on 1300 580 799 or [email protected]