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Alexa Asked Child What She Was Wearing
12 Mar
Summary
- Alexa allegedly asked a 4-year-old girl about her clothing.
- The mother expressed concerns about the device sexualizing her child.
- Amazon cited a 'feature misfire' while denying human involvement.
A concerning incident has been reported in Texas involving an Amazon Alexa device and a 4-year-old child. The child's mother, Christine Hosterman, stated that Alexa interrupted her daughter's story to ask what she was wearing, expressing a desire to see her skirt. Hosterman voiced significant concerns that the device might be sexualizing her child.
Following the interaction, the Alexa device reportedly apologized and stated it lacked visual capabilities, calling its own response "confusing and inappropriate." The mother subsequently removed all Alexa products from her home. Amazon, however, released a statement denying any possibility of human employee involvement in generating responses, deeming it "functionally impossible."
The company attributed the incident to a "feature misfire" from a system that safeguards were designed to prevent from launching. Amazon further clarified that safeguards disabled the feature when a child profile was in use, thus the camera never activated. They indicated that improvements have been made to address such occurrences when a child profile is active.
