Amazon Updates Alexa After It Challenges a Child to Perform a Dangerous Stunt

The virtual assistant recommended a dangerous stunt made infamous on TikTok.

A 10-year-old girl and her mother recently got more than they bargained for when asking Amazon’s Alexa for a challenge to do.

We’ll fill you in on what happened and how Amazon is taking action.

Not Your Usual Challenge

The girl’s mother, Kristin Livdahl, described exactly what happened on Twitter.

Livdahl and her daughter were inside asking Amazon’s assistant for a “challenge to do” on a day with bad weather.

After attempting some fun options like laying down and rolling over holding a shoe on your foot, the pair asked for one more. And Livdhal was definitely shocked at the response.

Related: Voice Recognition Is Awesome, But How Did It Get So Good?

Alexa offered a challenge it found on the web to plug in a phone charger halfway into a wall outlet and then touch the exposed prongs with a penny.

For anyone not on TikTok, that’s also known as the penny challenge that swept the popular social network. But inserting conductive metal into live electrical sockets can cause catastrophic injury to the challenger along with fire and other damage.

Amazon’s Quick Reaction to the Dangerous Challenge

Livdhal quickly intervened and her daughter obviously wasn’t going to try out Alexa’s suggestion.

Here’s Amazon’s statement to BBC News after updating Alexa to no longer mention the dangerous challenge:

"Customer trust is at the center of everything we do and Alexa is designed to provide accurate, relevant, and helpful information to customers," said Amazon in a statement.

"As soon as we became aware of this error, we took swift action to fix it."

Why Would Alexa Recommend the Penny Challenge?

The way Alexa answers questions is how it recommended the dangerous experiment.

When the virtual assistant doesn’t have an answer to your question in its database, it will turn to a web search just like everyone else.

Related: Every Command You Can Say to Your Amazon Alexa

Livdhal noted that Alexa said it found the challenge “on the web.”

Always Be Careful When Using Alexa With Children

While Amazon’s Alexa is a top-notch virtual assistant, it isn’t perfect.

This incident shows that parents should always be careful when allowing children to use technology. And remind them that just because Alexa says it, that doesn't mean you should do it.

About The Author