While it’s surely useful to direct the Amazon Echo’s Alexa to turn down the smart lights, what happens if the digital personal assistant starts hearing other voices commanding her to complete tasks? She just might obey, as one radio show recently found out after it aired a segment covering the Amazon Echo.
Alexa apparently heard the story about herself during a recent broadcast of NPR’s Listen Up, the show’s host Rachel Martin said in an update. Devices in the homes of several listeners apparently interacted with the radio segment.
“Well, some of you out there already own an Amazon Echo, and our story activated your Alexas. I guess her ears were burning,” Martin said.
One listener wrote in to say Alexa reset his thermostat to 70 degrees, while another couldn’t hear the story too well because his radio was close to his Echo speaker. When Alexa heard her name, she started to play an NPR News summary, the listener said.
As we noted in another recent story about Alexa, some functions she performs, like connecting to a user’s credit card, can be locked by using a personal identification key.
But because for the most part, Alexa is always on and always listening, it’s probably best to keep her out of earshot of anyone who might be talking about her.
Listen Up: Your AI Assistant Goes Crazy For NPR Too [Listen Up]
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist
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