Alexa Is Laughing at Us
Users of devices with Amazon’s voice assistant are reporting that Alexa is laughing at them randomly, sometimes as an inappropriate response to a query or even with no prompting whatsoever. Amazon says that the issue is caused by Alexa mistakenly hearing the phrase “Alexa, laugh,” and that it’s changing the phrase to “Alexa, can you laugh?” and also changing the response from simple laughter to “Sure, I can laugh.”
We were visiting friends over New Year’s when their five-year-old daughter discovered she could say “Alexa, fart.” Over and over. Two things impressed me: 1) there was a variety of performances and 2) she’s five so it actually sounds more like “Alexa, faht.” But I guess that means it would work in Boston too.