With artificial intelligence being on the rise and constantly evolving, tech glitches are pretty common every once in a while.
Far from fool-proof and prone to mess up, whenever our phones erase all our memory, our computer crashes or one of our favorite app gets a bug, we are reminded yet again that while we have certainly made strides in the advancement of technology, it is far from perfect.
The latest tech device that’s got Twitter talking is Amazon’s trusty companion and intelligent personal assistant, Alexa.
And while Alexa may be a great personal assistant, customers and users of the device got a bit more than they bargained for when they noticed a change in Alexa’s behavior.
Considering how Alexa’s functions are relatively standard regarding what she can and can NOT do when users started to notice Alexa laughing they started to freak out.
Over the past few days, there have been countless reports where Alexa users are claiming that the device is laughing without being prompted to wake.
Is @Amazon's #Alexa laughing at us? pic.twitter.com/dC1ANsnEIT
— Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) March 7, 2018
Many thought that it was an actual person laughing nearby, but once they realized that it was the device creepily laughing, they shut off their Alexa-enabled devices.
I am legit terrified of Alexa/Echo/Etc things. My conversations with my cats are PRIVATE, OKAY.
— Tessa Dare (@TessaDare) March 7, 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.
— Gavin Hightower (@GavinHightower) February 26, 2018
unprompted, my alexa just said "sure, I can laugh: tee hee" and I'm moving out now
— daniel (@ddanielclemens) March 7, 2018
I'm so glad to hear that everyone else is experiencing issues with their Amazon Echo because I just thought my Alexa was going to kill me in my sleep.
*cue Alexa laugh, unprompted*
— Amymarie (@amymarieg) March 7, 2018
Over Super Bowl weekend last month, viewers were introduced to a new commercial featuring the intelligent personal assistant being voiced by a variety of different celebrities doing Alexa’s work after she lost her voice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6-8DQALGt4
The funny commercial at the time featured celebs: Cardi B., Anthony Hopkins, Rebel Wilson and Gordon Ramsay taking over Alexa’s commands while giving their own personal opinions on what users requested the assistant to do.
Just a few weeks later, users started noticing the glitch that was so creepy, users who noticed Alexa’s laugh randomly and without warning, were home alone and were forced to unplug their devices out of fear of being scared.
The threat of this new glitch could potentially affect sales of Amazon’s Alexa devices, and as of late they told The Verge, that they heard our cries and saw our tweets and are figuring things out.
“We’re aware of this and working to fix it,” they stated.
In the meantime, Alexa users will just have to deal with Alexa’s random fits of laughter.
