City
Epaper

Alexa tells girl to touch live plug with penny, Amazon fixes bug

By IANS | Updated: December 29, 2021 15:30 IST

San Francisco, Dec 29 Tech giant Amazon has updated its Alexa voice assistant after it "challenged" a 10-year-old ...

Open in App

San Francisco, Dec 29 Tech giant Amazon has updated its Alexa voice assistant after it "challenged" a 10-year-old girl to touch a coin to the prongs of a half-inserted plug.

According to the BBC, the suggestion came after the girl asked Alexa for a "challenge to do".

"Plug in a phone charger about halfway into a wall outlet, then touch a penny to the exposed prongs," the smart speaker said.

Amazon said it fixed the error as soon as the company became aware of it.

The girl's mother, Kristin Livdahl, described the incident on Twitter.

"We were doing some physical challenges, like laying down and rolling over holding a shoe on your foot, from a (physical education) teacher on YouTube earlier. Bad weather outside. She just wanted another one," she said.

That's when the Echo speaker suggested partaking in the challenge that it had "found on the web," the report said.

The dangerous activity, known as "the penny challenge", began circulating on TikTok and other social media websites about a year ago.

Metals conduct electricity and inserting them into live electrical sockets can cause electric shocks, fires and other damage.

Amazon told the BBC in a statement that it had updated Alexa to prevent the assistant recommending such activity in the future.

"As soon as we became aware of this error, we took swift action to fix it," the company was quoted as saying.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

Tags: amazonbbcKristin livdahl
Open in App

Related Stories

EntertainmentOTT Releases This Week: Khauf, Mere Husband Ki Biwi, Logout, Daveed & More – Top Picks for Your Weekend Watchlist

EntertainmentOTT Releases This Week: Chhaava, Chhorii 2, Court, Perusu & More – Top Picks for Your Weekend Watchlist

MumbaiFrom Andheri To Canada: Mumbai Police Arrests Five For Duping Canadians For Iphone

EntertainmentGreed, Betrayal & a Heist Gone Wrong: 5 Reasons Why Amazon MX Player’s Loot Kaand Deserves To Be on Your Watchlist

EntertainmentOTT Releases This Week: Rekhachithram, Nadaaniyan, Dupahiya & More – Check Out the Latest Films & Series

Technology Realted Stories

TechnologyPilot plant of fortified rice kernels launched at CSIR-NIIST

TechnologyAIIMS Bhubaneswar launches Robotic Knee Replacement facility

TechnologyQuantum computing to revolutionise innovation and scientific discovery: Jyotiraditya Scindia

TechnologyStudy links antibiotic exposure before age two to childhood obesity

TechnologyBoult Audio’s net profit declines by 37 pc in FY24, revenue up 41 pc