Production built an AI chatbot for an undefined reason

“We only need it until the consultant comes back.”— Kevin, Production

Reason:

Honestly? Because management has a PowerPoint with a third number. Renamed twice to avoid attention.

Built by:

Kevin, a team lead

Build time:

5 evenings

Built with:

an internal API copied from a Stack Overflow answer

Database:

an Excel file pretending to be a relational database

Authentication:

the reset password button emails the old password back

Deployment:

hosted in Olivier's Azure subscription

Responsible:

Nadia, who insists they are not the owner

Documentation:

a screenshot of a photographed whiteboard

Security situation:

the penetration test account had global admin

Future disaster:

It will import production data into the test environment.

Age: 1.3 years · originally expected to last 14 days · 1 owner so far · survived 1 reorganisation · last meaningful change 210 days ago · original builder left 421 days ago

Rated rare mostly because: 479 users, 3 accidental connections, €71k per year.