Amazon's Alexa Tells Child to Touch Live Electrical Plug With Penny

When a 10-year-old girl asked Amazon's Alexa to give her a 'challenge,' her mother was shocked when the device told her daughter to 'plug in a phone charger about halfway into a wall outlet, then touch a penny to the exposed prongs.' Sounds like something an evil possessed appliance straight out of Maximum Overdrive would say. But don't worry, Alexa isn't trying to intentionally murder children—the reality is much dumber than that.

After @klivdahl's daughter asked Alexa for a challenge, the AI quickly sifted through the internet and found a 2-year-old article about a dangerous TikTok trend called the 'outlet challenge.' Because AI is still pretty stupid, Alexa singled out a description of the challenge from the article and used it as a suggestion. After @klivdahl tweeted about the incident Amazon fixed the error, but the possibility of something similar happening again still remains. @klivdahl's viral tweet sparked many thought-provoking questions and debate about artificial intelligence, clickbait, parenting, and electricity. Take a look at some of the highlights from the thread.

Posted by Mel Dawn