Anyone afraid that the robot apocalypse is imminent might head to the panic room now: Reports are coming in that Amazon’s Alexa smart speaker has begun laughing all on its own.
People who claim to have experienced this generally say they’re not interacting with their Amazon Echo, but it will suddenly begin laughing. Many of the descriptions describe the robolaughter as “creepy.”
Alexa laughs and gives people the creeps
Gavin Hightower posted on Twitter: “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.”
Photo: Cult of Mac
There have been similar reports from other users of the Amazon Echo.
Photo: Cult of Mac
Photo: Cult of Mac
Because Alexa’s frightening laugh allegedly only happens at unexpected times, nobody has managed to capture a recording. Amazon’s voice assistant has a laugh that it will use when prompted, but it doesn’t sound very creepy.
Amazon confirmed the creepy Alexa laughs, issuing the following statement to The Verge: “We’re aware of this and working to fix it.”
Up until the confirmation, we though maybe this wall all just a new Alexa skill the company was testing for Halloween called “Terrify Everyone.”
A drive is on to put Alexa in to seemingly everything, like smart glasses and cars. Maybe it’s time to rethink that.
Siri doesn’t laugh, but is funny
Siri won’t laugh, even when asked to do so. But that doesn’t mean Apple’s AI assistant lacks a sense of humor.
For example, asking Siri, “How much wood could a woodchuck chuck?” gets a humorous response. Or telling Siri, “I see a little silhouette-o of a man” sends it off into a long homage to a classic Queen song.
This post has been updated to include Amazon’s confirmation of the random Alexa laughter.
