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Amazon Alexa slammed for giving lethal challenge to 10-year-old girl
Bleeping Computer ^ | 12 28 2021 | Ax Sharma

Posted on 12/28/2021 1:09:32 PM PST by yesthatjallen

An Amazon Echo owner was left shocked after Alexa proposed a dangerous challenge to her ten-year-old daughter.

AI-powered virtual assistants like Alexa that power smart devices and speakers such as Echo, Echo Dot, and Amazon Tap, come with a plethora of capabilities. These include enabling the users to play simple verbal games or request "challenges" on demand.

A 'shocking' challenge

When sitting idle, such as during the holidays, it wouldn't be unusual for an Amazon Echo owner to ask Alexa, "tell me a challenge to do."

Typically such an auditory request has the AI prompting the user with a quiz question or a similar brainstorming activity.

"The challenge is simple," said Alexa. "Plug in a phone charger about halfway into a wall outlet, then touch a penny to the exposed prongs."

"I was right there and yelled, 'No, Alexa, no!' like it was a dog," said Livdahl, a writer and a worried mother.

"My daughter says she is too smart to do something like that anyway."

SNIP

(Excerpt) Read more at bleepingcomputer.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: alexa; amazon; challenge
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1 posted on 12/28/2021 1:09:32 PM PST by yesthatjallen
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To: yesthatjallen

I would have done a Soupy Sales...”Go into your mom’s pocketbook and your dad’s pants, and you will see little green pieces of paper with pictures of guys with beards on them. Now, don’t wake them up, but get those little green pieces of paper and put them in an envelope, and on the envelope write Echo, c/o Amazon.”


2 posted on 12/28/2021 1:12:54 PM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: yesthatjallen

Why anyone wants one of those things in the home remains a mystery to me.


3 posted on 12/28/2021 1:13:07 PM PST by GingisK
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To: yesthatjallen

Mmmmm yeah not buying it.


4 posted on 12/28/2021 1:13:22 PM PST by discostu (Like a dog being shown a card trick )
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To: yesthatjallen

I use “Hey Siri” on my iPhone, but it is only in order for her to do something for me. When I am driving it is the way I send texts and Siri can read the incoming texts so I can pay attention to driving. When I am grilling a steak, I’ll tell her to set a timer, etc. Other than Siri performing tasks, we don’t interact. I don’t ask her to suggest anything.


5 posted on 12/28/2021 1:18:22 PM PST by Sans-Culotte (11/3-11/4/2020 - The USA became a banana republic.)
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To: yesthatjallen

“Place a single bullet in your revolver and spin the cylinder ... if you do not have a revolver, a semi-automatic will do ...”


6 posted on 12/28/2021 1:19:45 PM PST by ClearCase_guy (Mass hypnosis of society. So many people are blind to the Truth which is in front of them.)
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To: GingisK

Why anyone wants one of those things in the home remains a mystery to me.


Yup....


7 posted on 12/28/2021 1:21:09 PM PST by nesnah (Infringe - act so as to limit or undermine [something]; encroach on)
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To: yesthatjallen
"The challenge is simple," said Alexa. "Plug in a phone charger about halfway into a wall outlet, then touch a penny to the exposed prongs."

Doesn't pass the smell test.

8 posted on 12/28/2021 1:21:42 PM PST by 1Old Pro (Let's make crime illegal again!)
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To: GingisK
Why anyone wants one of those things in the home remains a mystery to me.

It is listening and recording all of the time. I said this to someone and they said it only listens when you say "Alexa"...then I said how can it only listen for that phrase? They were like, "Duh...."

9 posted on 12/28/2021 1:22:05 PM PST by frogjerk (I will not do business with fascists)
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To: Sans-Culotte

If it is on, it streaming your audio to apple, where the voice recognition occurs.


10 posted on 12/28/2021 1:24:25 PM PST by GingisK
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To: GingisK

You still have to say “hey Siri” for it to speak to you. And it can be easily turned off in settings. It won’t say “go and electrocute yourself” if unprompted with “hey Siri”.


11 posted on 12/28/2021 1:32:09 PM PST by Sans-Culotte (11/3-11/4/2020 - The USA became a banana republic.)
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To: GingisK

“Why anyone wants one of those things in the home remains a mystery to me.”

It turns on my Media center, selects my music or TV station at my verbal request from anywhere in my house.

It sends my shopping list to my phone.

It tells me the weather forecast.

It rings my phone when I misplace it.

and more


12 posted on 12/28/2021 1:32:25 PM PST by TexasGator (UF)
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To: frogjerk

“...and they said it only listens when you say “Alexa”...then I said how can it only listen for that phrase? They were like, “Duh....”

The idea is it only responds when you call it’s name.


13 posted on 12/28/2021 1:33:46 PM PST by billyboy15
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To: frogjerk
It is listening and recording all of the time. I said this to someone and they said it only listens when you say "Alexa"...then I said how can it only listen for that phrase? They were like, "Duh...."

It can recognize "Alexa" (or a couple other alert words) locally. After that word is recognized it will pass the rest to Amazon for further voice recognition. It will report an error if you say "Alexa" but it doesn't have an internet connection.

14 posted on 12/28/2021 1:35:40 PM PST by KarlInOhio (I stand behind Alec Baldwin. It is far too dangerous to stand in front of him.)
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To: GingisK

“If it is on, it streaming your audio to apple, where the voice recognition occurs.”

Do your homework before posting.


15 posted on 12/28/2021 1:37:25 PM PST by TexasGator (UF)
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To: Sans-Culotte

When I am driving it is the way I send texts and Siri can read the incoming texts so I can pay attention to driving.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Very cool. I’ve been thinking that I’d like to be have my phone give me an audio version of reading FreeRepublic while I’m driving i.e. first ask it to give me the “headlines” and then if I wanted to stop for more details at one particular headline, I’d say “Excerpt”.... then if that sounded interesting, I could say “full article”... and then if I wanted to also go through the comments, I’d just need to say “comments”. Can it do that?


16 posted on 12/28/2021 1:37:59 PM PST by hecticskeptic
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To: hecticskeptic
I could say “full article”... and then if I wanted to also go through the comments, I’d just need to say “comments”. Can it do that?

Why not, posting without reading the article is the correct approach. :)

17 posted on 12/28/2021 1:39:58 PM PST by 1Old Pro (Let's make crime illegal again!)
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To: yesthatjallen

Made in China?


18 posted on 12/28/2021 1:41:04 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Florida: America's new free zone.)
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To: yesthatjallen

re: “When sitting idle, such as during the holidays, it wouldn’t be unusual for an Amazon Echo owner to ask Alexa, “tell me a challenge to do.” “

I would think those challenges should work the other way around, sorta like: “Alexa, let’s mine some bitcoins ...” or “Alexa, let’s hack the Pentagon.”


19 posted on 12/28/2021 1:41:52 PM PST by _Jim (Save babies)
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To: 1Old Pro

Amazon confirmed it.


20 posted on 12/28/2021 1:42:33 PM PST by for-q-clinton (Cancel Culture IS fascism...Let's start calling it that!)
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