Founder Used OpenAI AI Agent to Help Move Offices, but It Spammed Movers With Hundreds of Emails
A move with many details
Farlow, a 27-year-old founder of the AI startup Plato, said arranging the office move meant dealing with insurance and coordinating with movers. The building managers required insurance for the movers, and the new lease also called for updated coverage.
He said he did not know much about insurance and would have asked an AI tool for help regardless. Farlow told Dot to read his emails for the details and handle the task.
Questions kept coming
Dot contacted an insurance provider and sent Farlow several texts. When proposed meeting times came up, the agent asked whether 9 a.m. meant Pacific Time, then continued seeking clarification on details.
The repeated questions flooded the movers and building managers with emails. One building manager started a new thread because the existing chain had become too large.
Farlow shuts the agent down
After seeing an email from the movers, Farlow said he felt bad about the volume of messages and wondered what he had done. He shut Dot down and had not yet replied to the movers, though he wanted to apologize.
Farlow said AI models would improve at handling tasks like this. In the meantime, he advised people to review everything an agent does unless they are sure it will perform well.
Key points
- Farlow used OpenAI’s Dot agent to help arrange insurance and logistics for an office move.
- Dot’s repeated clarification questions led to hundreds of emails to movers and building managers.
- A building manager started a new email thread after the existing one grew too large.
- Farlow shut Dot down and urged users to review an agent’s work.