Amazon’s Alexa virtual assistant has been updated after it challenged a 10-year-old girl to touch a live plug with a penny.
The 10-year-old had reportedly asked the device for a “challenge to do,” according to the girl’s mother, Kristin Livdahl.
“Plug in a phone charger about halfway into a wall outlet, then touch a penny to the exposed prongs,” the smart device said.
OMFG My 10 year old just asked Alexa on our Echo for a challenge and this is what she said. pic.twitter.com/HgGgrLbdS8
— Kristin Livdahl (@klivdahl) December 26, 2021
“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,” the upset mother tweeted.
The potentially deadly “Penny Challenge” had circulated on TikTok about a year ago, according to a report from The BBC.
Luckily, Livdahl tweeted that she had began shouting “No, Alexa, No!” and that her daughter was “too smart” to do something like that.
“It was a good moment to go through internet safety and not trusting things you read without research and verification again. We thought the cesspool of YouTube was what we needed to worry about at this age—with limited internet and social media access—but not the only thing,” Livdahl tweeted.
It was a good moment to go through internet safety and not trusting things you read without research and verification again. We thought the cesspool of YouTube was what we needed to worry about at this age—with limited internet and social media access—but not the only thing.
— Kristin Livdahl (@klivdahl) December 27, 2021
Amazon told the BBC in a statement that it had updated Alexa to prevent the dangerous challenge being suggested in other homes.
“Customer trust is at the centre of everything we do and Alexa is designed to provide accurate, relevant, and helpful information to customers,” said Amazon in a statement.
“As soon as we became aware of this error, we took swift action to fix it.”
