Technology
Amazon Alexa warning as children TOLD to complete dangerous TikTok challenge
A MUM claims her daughter asked Amazon’s Alexa for a “challenge” to complete and it gave her a potentially deadly suggestion.
The Echo Dot allegedly told the 10-year-old to have a go at the “outlet challenge” – made popular on TikTok – which involves poking metal into a power outlet.
Amazon’s Alexa allegedly told a 10-year-old girl to poke a penny into a power outlet
TwitterMum Kristin Livadahl shared Alexa’s worrying response on Twitter[/caption]
Kristin Livdahl shared Amazon’s shocking response to her little girl’s innocent question on Twitter.
She claimed the at-home assistant replied saying: “Here’s something I found on the web. According to ourcommunitynow.com: The challenge is simple: plug in a phone charger about halfway into a wall outlet, then touch a penny to the exposed prongs.”
While the message was likely an automated one, it provided clear instructions on how to carry out the hazardous dare.
The “outlet challenge” went viral on video sharing app TikTok in January.
Thousands of teenagers shared footage of themselves poked pennies into power outlets with a phone charger halfway plugged in to create a spark.
The app has since banned searches for the challenge, which only works in some countries, and experts have warned parents and youngsters of the fire risks involved.
The Plymouth Fire Department in New Hampshire, US, said a teacher saw two high school students try it, leaving two outlets burned out.
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Fire Chief Edward Bradley said: “These actions are extremely dangerous and could potentially start a fire and cause thousands of dollars in property damage.
“It could also cause serious injury to anyone who is nearby.”
But mum Kristin wanted to raise the alarm for other parents who may have know about the challenge and have Alexa at home.
One replied: “Houston, we’ve got a very serious problem.”
Another posted: “Companies should really know better than to put unfiltered question answering systems live on the internet.”
A third asked why the child had unrestricted access to the technology and was asking Alexa for challenges, to which Kristin replied: “We have been doing some physical challenges from a Phy Ed teacher on YouTube as the weather gets colder and she just wanted another one. I was right there.
“The Echo was a gift and is mostly used as a timer and to play songs and podcasts.”
‘SHOULD KNOW BETTER’
Amazon responded to Kristin’s tweet asking her to reach out directly using a link so the company could “look into this further”.
She later added that the tech giant had replied again to say they were “working with its developers regarding the concern”.
An Amazon spokesperson told The Sun Online: “Customer trust is at the centre of everything we do and Alexa is designed to provide accurate, relevant, and helpful information to customers.
“As soon as we became aware of this error, we took swift action to fix it.”
Amazon describes its voice-activated “virtual assistant technology” Alexa as “relying in part on supervised machine learning”.
Its website adds this is an “industry-standard practice where humans review an extremely small sample of requests to help Alexa understand the correct interpretation of a request and provide the appropriate response in the future”.
What is Alexa?
If you’ve never heard of Alexa, here’s what you need to know…
Alexa is an “intelligent” personal assistant built by Amazon.
You can find her on several different devices, including Amazon’s Echo speakers.
Alexa responds to voice commands, and can talk back to you.
She can perform thousands of different tasks, including telling you about the news or weather.
But she can do more complex things too, like ordering a pizza or arranging an Uber taxi pick-up.
To activate Alexa, you need to say “Alexa” to an Amazon Echo speaker.
Because she’s powered by artificial intelligence, Alexa is constantly getting smarter.
Alexa will also get more used to your voice, and better understand what you want her to do over time.
