Alexa’s random laughter is freaking people out. Amazon says it’s ‘working to fix it’
Some Alexa users may feel like they’ve been dropped into a science fiction story about an artificial intelligence gone awry.
The virtual assistant in Amazon’s Echo devices has been frightening people with spontaneous laughter, according to multiple social media reports.
“I was trying to turn off some lights and they kept turning back on. After the third request, Alexa stopped responding and instead did an evil laugh,” wrote one Reddit poster on a thread about the device. “The laugh wasn’t in the Alexa voice. It sounded like a real person. My wife was there when it happened and she is the only person who can drop-in. I still get chills.”
“The alarm came on this morning however we had the flu and was miserable,” wrote another Reddit poster in the same thread. “I told Alexa to turn off the alarm and upon the second request she gave us the most chilling witch-like laugh. It scared the wife and my five-year-old so badly that we unplugged her.”
I’m genuinely terrified. No one said her name, and all of a sudden SHE LAUGHED out of NOWHERE
— Kyle Fitzy Shanklin (@kylefitzy8) March 4, 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
So Alexa decided to laugh randomly while I was in the kitchen. Freaked @SnootyJuicer and I out. I thought a kid was laughing behind me. pic.twitter.com/6dblzkiQHp
— CaptHandlebar (@CaptHandlebar) February 23, 2018
My alexa just laughed out of nowhere time to unplug this shit
— Roy (@Nai_Roy) February 25, 2018
unprompted, my alexa just said "sure, I can laugh: tee hee" and I'm moving out now
— Daniel (@ddanielclemens) March 7, 2018
#AlexaLaugh Mine doesn’t laugh but about a week ago, alone, watching TV at around midnight, she lights up and says, “He’s home. He’s home.” Freaked me out. #Amazon
— Evil Von Brainstorm (@Von_brainstorm) March 7, 2018
oh god, if you have an echo, ask "Alexa, can you laugh?" and you'll hear the creepy "tee-hee" laugh that people are talking about. It's unnerving.
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) March 7, 2018
Having an office conversation about pretty confidential stuff and Alexa just laughed. Anybody else ever have that?
— David Woodland (@DavidSven) March 1, 2018
It didn't chime as if we had accidentally triggered her to wake. She simply just laughed. It was really creepy.
so my mom & I are just sitting in the living room, neither of us said a word & our Alexa lit up and laughed for no reason. she didn’t even say anything, just laughed.
— taylor wade (@taylorkatelynne) March 5, 2018
we unplugged her.
Replying bc THIS creepy thing happened last night: we got home and, totally unprompted, our Amazon Echo/Alexa started talking. And then i realized it was listing off local cemeteries and funeral homes??? I'd rather it laugh at me tbh
— Kamo Boomin (@HeyItsKamo) March 7, 2018
The Daily Dot suggests the rogue Alexas may be misinterpreting sounds from a nearby television or glitched by a third-party app or a malware infection.
Like the Apple iPhone’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa can play music, order groceries, give a weather report, control smart home devices, shop on Amazon, search the internet and set reminders, according to CNET. At least, when she’s not randomly laughing and freaking people out. Amazon sold about 11 million Echo devices containing Alexa by the end of 2016.
Amazon told BuzzFeed in a statement Wednesay that “we’re aware of this and working to fix it.”
In February, a man reported that his Echo Dot device mistakenly ordered cat food after hearing an ad featuring a voice saying, “Alexa, re-order Purina cat food,” reported The Sun.
This story was originally published March 7, 2018 at 10:13 AM with the headline "Alexa’s random laughter is freaking people out. Amazon says it’s ‘working to fix it’."