Amazon’s Alexa tells 10-year-old child to touch penny to exposed plug socket
Dec 30, 2021, 7:22 AM | Updated: Jun 8, 2022, 3:22 pm
Updated "Echo Dots" are pictured at Amazon Headquarters, following a launch event, on September 20, 2018 in Seattle Washington. (Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)
(Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)
(CNN) — Amazon’s Alexa has been developed over the years to offer ever-improving access to information and knowledge.
However, the voice-enabled assistant recently gave some dangerous advice to one user that went viral on social media.
According to a tweet posted by Kristin Livdahl, Alexa told her 10-year-old child to touch a penny to an exposed plug socket.
“My 10 year old just asked Alexa on our Echo for a challenge and this is what she said,” Livdahl tweeted on Sunday.
Livdahl shared an image of Alexa’s response after her child asked the device for a challenge.
“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,” Alexa’s response read.
Users expressed their astonishment in the comments
“That’s shocking,” one user tweeted.
“Omg that’s horrible,” another user tweeted.
Amazon said they have since resolved the fault.
“Customer trust is at the center of everything we do and Alexa is designed to provide accurate, relevant, and helpful information to customers,” a spokesperson for Amazon told CNN in a statement.
“As soon as we became aware of this error, we quickly fixed it, and will continue to advance our systems to help prevent similar responses in the future,” the statement said.
The trend, known as the penny challenge, emerged on social media platforms such as TikTok in 2020.
However, some users have warned against the potential dangers of the challenge.
“You may have heard of the TikTok experiment involving a cell phone charger, a coin and an outlet,” Provo Fire & Rescue Capt. Brian Tanner said in a video posted in Jan. 2020 from the organization’s account on TikTok.
@provofirerescueCaptain Tanner with a public safety announcement about the dangers of the Tik Tok Penny Challenge. ##dontdoit♬ original sound – provofirerescue
“I’m telling you this is dangerous stuff, don’t do it,” Tanner added.
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