Amazon apologized after an Echo voice assistant asked a 10-year old girl to hold a penny to the prongs on a plug half-inserted. This could have been fatal.
Kristin Livdahl, from the US, has told how her daughter asked Alexa for a challenge on Sunday – to which the voice assistant responded: ”Plug in a phone charger about halfway into a wall outlet, then touch a penny to the exposed prongs’.
“OMFG, my 10-year old asked Alexa on the Echo for a challenge. This is what she replied to,” she tweeted along with a screenshot of Alexa.
Amazon stated that it has updated the voice assistant in an effort to avoid it happening again and they also said that they had fixed it as soon they became aware.
Amazon issued an apology after the Echo voice assistant asked a 10-year-old girl for help. The challenge required her to hold a quarter to one end of an inserted plug. It could prove fatal. Kristin Livdahl from the US has shared the story of how her daughter challenged Alexa to a challenge. The voice assistant replied: “Plug your phone charger approximately halfway into the wall socket, and then touch one penny to the prongs.”
Kristin added: ‘We were doing some physical challenges, like laying down and rolling over holding a shoe on your foot, from a [physical education]YouTube teacher earlier Outside it was terrible. “She just wanted another.”
Also, she claimed that she intervened when Alexa shouted “No! Alexa!”
It found the internet challenge through a search. Ironically, the article that quoted parents against their children doing the ‘outlet challenge’ that went viral on TikTok last year.
Fire chiefs blasted the so-called “penny challenge”.
This internet trend is to plug a charger half-way into the wall. Then, you touch the prongs of the charger with a coin and try to spark a light.
Michael Clusker, a fire station manager in Carlisle, Cumbria, said at the time the electric shock from the challenge, which has been spreading on video sharing app TikTok, can kill participants.
It found the internet challenge through a search. Ironically, the article that quoted parents against their children doing the ‘outlet challenge’ that went viral on TikTok last year.
“The result of this situation is that somebody will be seriously injured.
According to the CDC, every year thousands are killed by electric shocks. You can die if you get it wrong.
“Anything that is not in compliance with electric equipment regulations – except for qualified electricians – can be dangerous.”
One incident in America saw firefighters race to reach a school after a teenager dropped a penny from an iPhone charging port.
This internet challenge involves plugging in a charging cable part-way to a wall, and then trying to ignite it by touching exposed prongs of the charger with a pen (pictured: The outlet that was created after the challenge).
In one instance in the USA, firefighters had to race to a school when a teen dropped a penny on the prongs of an iPhone charger plugged into an outlet (pictured: Penny fused to charger after students perform ‘penny challenge’ at a US high school)
Police were summoned to an American high school on January 23 after two students caused extensive damage to several outlets.
Clusker stated that teens who take inspiration from social media should be responsible.
He said, “I think social media can be a problem. It gives people ideas that may not be ideal.
“People need to take accountability for their actions.
Amazon stated in a statement, that they had updated Alexa so it would not recommend such activities in the future.
“Customer Trust is at the Heart of Everything We Do” Alexa is created to deliver accurate, useful, and relevant information to customers.
“As soon we realized this error, it was fixed immediately.”