When AI Goes Wrong 1: Willy's Chocolate Experience
September 1, 2025
The Lessons from Willy’s Chocolate Experience
First in my series of Lessons Learned in the AI journey for Ty Davies Intelligence & Insight.
This one is my favourite already.
Artificial Intelligence is often sold to us as the silver bullet – a tool that can design, create, and deliver at speed and scale. But when AI is used without human oversight, context, or quality control, things can unravel spectacularly.
A recent, infamous, and hilarious example was Willy’s Chocolate Experience in Glasgow.
BBC News article here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-68431728
Billed as a magical, Willy Wonka-inspired family adventure, the event was largely designed using AI-generated images, copy, and concepts.
Parents and children arrived expecting a world of wonder inspired by the great Welshman Roald Dahl's work and subsequent movies starring Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp.
Instead, they found a sparsely decorated warehouse, broken props, and actors left improvising lines from AI-written scripts that made little sense.
The fallout was immediate – disappointed families, viral social media ridicule, and a public relations crisis for the organisers. What should have been a moment of joy turned into an example of how AI, when misapplied, can amplify mistakes rather than deliver innovation.
Key Takeaways:
AI is a tool, not a replacement for human judgment. It can generate ideas, but without careful curation, those ideas may be unworkable or even absurd.
User experience still matters. Families didn’t buy AI hype – they bought tickets to a promised event. AI couldn’t deliver the atmosphere, the smell of chocolate, or the excitement of a live experience.
Trust is fragile. Once consumers feel misled, reputational damage spreads faster than ever in the digital age.
Hybrid intelligence works best. The winning formula is AI for scale and efficiency, paired with human creativity, ethics, and empathy.
The lesson from Willie’s Chocolate Experience is not that AI should be avoided.
Rather, it shows that AI without human stewardship can be like a recipe without a chef – the ingredients might be there, but the end product can leave a bitter taste.
If we want AI to build better futures – in business, public services, or even chocolate factories – we must remain the critical, responsible humans in the loop.
The world won't end by Terminators from the future but by mismanaged AI chocolate factories!
Before then, take a seat, grab a tea and a Wonka bar, and have a listen to this classic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVi3-PrQ0pY
(c) Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory - Warner Bros
#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #AIethics #AIgovernance #AIfail #DigitalTransformation #Innovation #Leadership #FutureOfWork #AIandHumanity #AIoversight
