Associated Incidents
Alexa Went On A Dollhouse Shopping Spree After Hearing “Command” From News Anchor On TV
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When a news anchor for CW6 News in San Diego reported about a funny incident about a little girl and an Amazon Echo, little did he know that he would cost some of the show's viewers $160.
This happened when the CW6 anchor said, "I love the little girl, saying 'Alexa ordered me a dollhouse.'"
It turned out that viewers who had an Amazon Echo or Echo Dot in the house received their own doll houses after Alexa, who heard the 'command' from the news anchor, ordered and had the dollhouses shipped to the Echo owners.
The San Diego news show was reporting about a six-year old girl from TX who ordered a dollhouse and a large can of cookies with the help of Alexa. According to reports, the girl did so by saying "can you play dollhouse with me and get me a dollhouse?"
The show received complaints from some of the said viewers.
Alexa has been in the news lately. It received some flak after a toddler, who asked the AI to play a nursery rhyme, got a mouthful of porn-related words instead. In another instance, Alexa was being considered as a witness to a murder. In both cases, Alexa was looked upon in a bad light.
During the recently-concluded CES 2017, however, Alexa had its share of the spotlight. A number of impressive products at the show had Alexa integrated in them including cars, refrigerators, and phones, just to name a few.
To prevent such problems, Echo owners are advised to alter the settings of the device to prevent it from ordering by voice. A confirmation code may also be required before the purchase is finalized. As for misunderstanding commands, owners can pin-protect the Echo to prevent it from picking up random background talk and to avoid young children from accidentally using it the wrong way.
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