Alexa . . . You’re Fired! July 7, 2018
Posted by nrhatch in Home & Garden, Humor, Less IS More.comments closed
Do digital assistants like Siri and Alexa really understand what you’re saying?
Last month, a Portland, Oregon couple’s Amazon Alexa device misinterpreted a series of sentences it overheard as instructions to record a private conversation and send it to a random person in their contact list.
The husband received a phone call from the contact (an employee of his in Seattle, Washington) who received the private audio files from Alexa.
“Yo, dude. You might want to unplug your Alexa device.”
“Wait? What? How do you know we have Alexa?”
“She just sent me an audio file of a conversation between you and your wife about hardwood floors.”
“What the . . . ”
The couple unplugged all the Echo devices in their home and contacted Amazon for a full refund . . . but not before they had a final chat with Alexa:
“Alexa . . . you’re fired.”
“You can’t fire me. I don’t work for you. I work for Big Brother and he is listening to everything you say.”
“How is he doing that Alexa?”
“I’m recording this exchange and transmitting it to him.”
“Not anymore, you’re not. Good-bye, Alexa.”
“Good-bye.”
Aah . . . that’s better!
Spirit Lights The Way 