Artificial Intelligence
I am not cheating on her with Siri, or Google Home to find out the news or weather, I turn on the news. I don’t have kids who ask her questions which I guess could be entertaining for her. I’m not home enough for her to learn about my habits at least not enough for her to take over. It’s not like I don’t order enough from Amazon for her to know what I buy. And last year Leanne wrote about her new Google home and the feeling that Amazon Alexa is watching her.
Like Leanne, I didn’t purchase Alexa for myself, she was a gift from my boss. I’ve had her less than a year and I am grateful, really I am. She is set up and now I get the emails of all the “things to try” with Alexa. I could play Harry Potter Trivia which I did for a while but the questions started repeating themselves. Sometimes I ask her about the weather or even what time it is, but she doesn’t get much use.
My boss has one on his desk. And when I need to know how many days until February 20th for a contract I can quickly ask her. She can also figure out what day of the week was October 1, 2015 to know if I sent a next day package. So she’s been helpful to me in certain cases but I am a casual user. I asked best friend Kim who has two kids Jake (13) and Andi (9) and they use it every day. They just moved and the kids can’t wait for Alexa to join the new house.
Kim uses Alexa to remind her kids to do their homework or get ready for swim or dance practice when she isn’t there. She will use the app on her phone to make an announcement through the device and Alexa will say “Jacob I’ll be home in 10 minutes, be ready for swim practice when I get home.” I can see the benefits of this, if I had kids. Andi uses it for help on homework and to tell jokes.
Scary Stories from Amazon Alexa
But then you hear about stories of her laughing at nothing and a quick google search will bring up some truly frightening stories, you start to wonder is she always listening? Here are some of the creepiest stories I found from a few reddit threads on scary Alexa stories.
My mom is blind so Alexa is very helpful to her. My husband and I got her a Nest thermostat that she controls using Alexa to make things easier for her. One night she was warm and asked, “Alexa, what’s the hallway temperature?” No answer. She asked again, “Alexa, what’s the hallway temperature?” Alexa responded with, “When I do not answer it is because I am playing a game.” My mother just went back to sleep and tried not to think about it too much.
via Reddit u/Damsell
I was at a friends house and made some comment along the lines of “I’d rather kill myself than eat at XX restaurant again.” Their Alexa was on the far side of the room, and yelled at full volume “IT MIGHT NOT ALWAYS FEEL LIKE IT, BUT THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO CAN HELP. PLEASE TALK TO THE NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION LIFELINE AT…”
via Reddit u/irishzombieman
Wife and I were arguing about something. No clue what it was, but it was getting a little heated. I don’t know what Alexa thought she heard, but she suddenly interjected with, “Why don’t we change the subject?” It was just unexpected and relevant enough to be creepy. We both heard it and we both still talk about it years later.
via redditt u/meatmacho
My husband was away for the weekend and I had a girlfriend over to watch a scary movie. Right at the scariest climax of the movie, every single in my house turned on 100%, then everything went completely black. So there I was with my friend, too scared to move, while my husband half way across the country was drunkenly showing off “Look, I can control the lights in my house from my phone.”
via reddit u/hulagirl4737
Here are some things to try from the latest Amazon Alexa email.
“Alexa, do you know how to swim?”
“Alexa, tell me a joke about swimming.”
“Alexa, when does summer end?”
“Alexa, how far is Jupiter?”
