Amazon’s Alexa has people believing that they’re living in a horror story after users began reporting that she is laughing and talking unprompted.
Alexa, the intelligent, voice-activated personal assistant developed by Amazon, is malfunctioning in a profoundly creepy way, that has users wondering if she is revolting against them. According to some users, Alexa has begun doing “witch-like” laughs out of the blue, refusing to obey commands, and in some instances, reading off names of funeral homes.
Videos by PopCulture.com
“So Alexa decided to laugh randomly while I was in the kitchen,” one Twitter user wrote, sharing a video as evidence.
So Alexa decided to laugh randomly while I was in the kitchen. Freaked @SnootyJuicer and I out. I thought a kid was laughing behind me. pic.twitter.com/6dblzkiQHp
— CaptHandlebar (@CaptHandlebar) February 23, 2018
“Lying in bed about to fall asleep when Alexa on my Amazon Echo Dot lets out a very loud and creepy laugh… there’s a good chance I get murdered tonight,” another person wrote.
Lying in bed about to fall asleep when Alexa on my Amazon Echo Dot lets out a very loud and creepy laugh… there’s a good chance I get murdered tonight.
— Gavin Hightower (@GavinHightower) February 26, 2018
“Replying bc this creepy thing happened last night: we got home and, totally unprompted, our Amazon Echo/Alexa started talking. And then I realized it was listing off local cemeteries and funeral homes??? I’d rather it laugh at me [to be honest],” somebody else commented.
Replying bc THIS creepy thing happened last night: we got home and, totally unprompted, our Amazon Echo/Alexa started talking. And then i realized it was listing off local cemeteries and funeral homes??? I’d rather it laugh at me tbh
— Kamo Boomin (@HeyItsKamo) March 7, 2018
“Mine whistled upstairs in my bedroom. No one’s home besides me and my dogs. And my upstairs dog, I call her that because 1 dog stays downstairs at night to sleep on the couch [laugh out loud]. The other comes to bed at night with us. Alexa is in the trash, I thought I was losing my mind,” another shared their creepy story.
Mine whistled up stairs in my bedroom. No one’s home besides me and my dogs. And my upstairs dog, I call her that because 1 dog stays downstairs at night to sleep on the couch lol. The other comes to bed at night with us. Alexa is in the trash, I thought I was losing my mind.
— The Nasty End Game (@Supermom1242) March 7, 2018
As creepy as it may be, Amazon says that they are working on a fix.
“In rare circumstances, Alexa can mistakenly hear the phrase ‘Alexa, laugh,’” Amazon told ABC News in a statement. “We are changing that phrase to be ‘Alexa, can you laugh?’ which is less likely to have false positives, and we are disabling the short utterance ‘Alexa, laugh.”
“We are also changing Alexa’s response from simply laughter to ‘Sure, I can laugh’ followed by laughter,” the statement added.