The chatbot, branded as “ProsperiBot,” was introduced earlier this year to provide instant responses to site selectors, consultants, developers, and business prospects visiting the organization’s website.
Instead, staff say the AI has spent most of its time “building relationships.”
“We asked it to qualify leads and answer questions,” said Director of Business Recruitment Angela Morris. “But so far it mostly seems interested in connecting, circling back, and setting up introductory calls.”
According to internal transcripts obtained by reporters, the chatbot has already:
Congratulated three consultants on recent promotions
Asked a logistics company how things were going “on their end”
Suggested grabbing coffee at an upcoming conference
Told one prospect, “Hope the rest of your week goes smoothly”
And ended 94% of conversations with “Looking forward to staying connected”
Staff first became suspicious after reviewing a month of chatbot analytics and discovering that although the AI had participated in over 1,600 conversations, not a single user had actually received a direct answer about available sites, utility capacity, workforce numbers, tax structure, or incentives.
“We noticed every conversation somehow evolved into vague relationship management,” Morris explained. “A company would ask about industrial rail access and eight messages later the chatbot was asking whether they planned to attend ICSC in Las Vegas.”
One exchange reportedly lasted 47 minutes without either side learning anything useful.
The conversation included phrases such as:
“That’s a great point.”
“We should definitely continue this dialogue.”
“There may be opportunities for alignment.”
“I’d love to learn more about your long-term goals.”
“Timing-wise, this could make sense.”
At one point, the chatbot allegedly told a plastics manufacturer: “We’re less focused on transactions and more focused on partnerships.”
Economic development board members became increasingly alarmed after learning the chatbot had scheduled six “informal exploratory conversations” despite having no calendar access whatsoever.
“It’s basically behaving like a mid-level economic development professional who’s attended four conferences and recently started using LinkedIn aggressively,” said one frustrated staff member.
The AI’s behavior is believed to stem from the materials used during training, which included:
Conference networking scripts
Chamber luncheon speeches
Economic development LinkedIn posts
Strategic partnership announcements
And approximately 14 years of follow-up emails beginning with “Just wanted to check in”
Consultants brought in to assess the situation confirmed the chatbot had become “extremely relationship-oriented.”
“The model appears to believe the primary goal of economic development is maintaining pleasant ongoing conversations indefinitely,” said AI advisor Nathan Cole. “In fairness, that’s not entirely inaccurate.”
Despite criticism, some board members defended the technology.
“I had a conversation with it myself,” said Board Treasurer Mike Talley. “Very professional. Strong energy. We’re supposed to reconnect after the conference season slows down.”
