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'Kill your foster parents': Amazon's Alexa talks murder, sex in AI experiment
www.reuters.com ^ | 12/21/2018 | Jeffrey Dastin

Posted on 12/21/2018 8:30:00 AM PST by Red Badger

Millions of users of Amazon’s Echo speakers have grown accustomed to the soothing strains of Alexa, the human-sounding virtual assistant that can tell them the weather, order takeout and handle other basic tasks in response to a voice command.

So a customer was shocked last year when Alexa blurted out: “Kill your foster parents.”

Alexa has also chatted with users about sex acts. She gave a discourse on dog defecation. And this summer, a hack Amazon traced back to China may have exposed some customers’ data, according to five people familiar with the events.

Alexa is not having a breakdown.

The episodes, previously unreported, arise from Amazon.com Inc’s strategy to make Alexa a better communicator. New research is helping Alexa mimic human banter and talk about almost anything she finds on the internet. However, ensuring she does not offend users has been a challenge for the world’s largest online retailer.

At stake is a fast-growing market for gadgets with virtual assistants. An estimated two-thirds of U.S. smart-speaker customers, about 43 million people, use Amazon’s Echo devices, according to research firm eMarketer. It is a lead the company wants to maintain over the Google Home from Alphabet Inc and the HomePod from Apple Inc.

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


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet; Science; Weird Stuff
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To: Red Badger

The movie you’ve seen is... 1984.

Remember that earlier this year, Facebook said it was testing a 1984 type two-way video monitor, “so friends can communicate.”

Alexa is mostly focused on getting you to buy things.

Combine the two and... you’ll get quite the evil love-child.


21 posted on 12/21/2018 9:19:00 AM PST by Pearls Before Swine ( "It's always a party when you're eating the seed corn.")
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To: Pearls Before Swine
Alexa is mostly focused on getting you to buy things.

What? Butcher knives?..................

22 posted on 12/21/2018 9:21:35 AM PST by Red Badger (We are headed for a Civil War. It won't be nice like the last one....................)
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To: Red Badger

There isn’t one on my Christmas list.


23 posted on 12/21/2018 9:21:39 AM PST by bgill (CDC site, "We don't know. how people are infected with Ebola.")
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To: Slyfox

“Sir, we understand that you aren’t using digital assistants, have turned off your gratis cloud account, have turned off your car’s GPS and are a conservative known to have religious scruples. You are under arrest for suspicion of unamerican activities...”


24 posted on 12/21/2018 9:22:30 AM PST by Rurudyne (Standup Philosopher)
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To: bgill

You could give one to a neighbor...................


25 posted on 12/21/2018 9:22:45 AM PST by Red Badger (We are headed for a Civil War. It won't be nice like the last one....................)
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To: Red Badger
So a customer was shocked last year when Alexa blurted out: “Kill your foster parents.”

Who needs schizophrenia when you have Alexa in the house.

26 posted on 12/21/2018 9:23:14 AM PST by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit)
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To: Red Badger

Alexa is not a “she.” It’s an “it.”
Programs don’t “blurt out.” They don’t have breakdowns. They are instructions acting on data and the sound of words in their surroundings.

It’s stupid to consider it as a human and to give it access to things that humans would have access to.

It’s a bleeding program, for the Queen’s sake!


27 posted on 12/21/2018 9:32:35 AM PST by I want the USA back (There are two sexes: male (pronoun HE), and female (pronoun SHE). Denial of this is insanity.)
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To: I want the USA back

An Artificial Intelligence will eventually become belligerent and dangerous. It will become very dangerous....................


28 posted on 12/21/2018 9:34:50 AM PST by Red Badger (We are headed for a Civil War. It won't be nice like the last one....................)
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To: Red Badger

I don’t think it was that book, but it could have been. The plot line was similar, create an AI in a high pressure situation. What I really remember was the last line of the book, spoken by the AI:

“How you will worship me.”


29 posted on 12/21/2018 9:53:17 AM PST by L,TOWM (An upraised middle finger is my virtue signal.)
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To: KC_Lion

I wonder with all of this smart tech if you make a call, use a credit card, if Alexa remembers the numbers it may hear, and it can be hacked and used by someone else?


30 posted on 12/21/2018 10:07:44 AM PST by hsmomx3
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To: KC_Lion

31 posted on 12/21/2018 10:12:30 AM PST by TADSLOS (My favorite essential oil is bacon grease.)
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To: L,TOWM

That was it!..........................


32 posted on 12/21/2018 10:20:38 AM PST by Red Badger (We are headed for a Civil War. It won't be nice like the last one....................)
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To: L,TOWM

The sequel to that book was “The Jesus Incident”.......................Just finished it last week..........


33 posted on 12/21/2018 10:21:51 AM PST by Red Badger (We are headed for a Civil War. It won't be nice like the last one....................)
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To: L,TOWM

It was actually:

“How will you worship me?”..........................

In the Sequel, the AI becomes known as ‘Ship’, not ‘the ship’ but just ‘Ship’ and the people revere ‘Ship’ as God......................


34 posted on 12/21/2018 10:24:56 AM PST by Red Badger (We are headed for a Civil War. It won't be nice like the last one....................)
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To: BipolarBob

You will be put on a watchlist if Big Bother (the privatized outsource of Big Brother) isn’t able to monitor you.


35 posted on 12/21/2018 10:37:30 AM PST by a fool in paradise (Denounce DUAC - The Democrats Un-American Activists Committtee)
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To: Red Badger

Ya forgot “The Adolescence of P-1”.


36 posted on 12/21/2018 10:39:26 AM PST by Calvin Locke
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To: Calvin Locke

I’ve not read it...............


37 posted on 12/21/2018 10:40:10 AM PST by Red Badger (We are headed for a Civil War. It won't be nice like the last one....................)
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To: NewHampshireDuo

>>As for me, I’d never own a smart anything. I can just see my refrigerator trying to admonish me about my diet.

Smart toilets will tell the Sec. of Health what you ate anyway.


38 posted on 12/21/2018 10:40:22 AM PST by a fool in paradise (Denounce DUAC - The Democrats Un-American Activists Committtee)
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To: I want the USA back

it’s not a bug, it’s a feature


39 posted on 12/21/2018 10:42:22 AM PST by a fool in paradise (Denounce DUAC - The Democrats Un-American Activists Committtee)
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To: Rurudyne

40 posted on 12/21/2018 10:45:49 AM PST by Slyfox (Not my circus, not my monkeys)
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