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posted by on Monday March 13 2017, @01:15PM   Printer-friendly
from the Truffaldino dept.

Consumerist reports that Amazon.com has updated Alexa, the software of its Amazon Echo listening devices, in the wake of a viral video in which someone asks the device "Do you work for the CIA?" and it goes silent and dark. The updated software says "No, I work for Amazon."

The submitter found a video on Youtube in which a Google Home device responds "I've got to admit, I'm not sure" in answer to the same question, as well as a video showing the updated Alexa software going silent when asked "Is Amazon connected to the CIA?".

additional coverage:


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13 2017, @07:42PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13 2017, @07:42PM (#478597)

    That proves that Amazon most likely programmed that bot to react in a certain way, given"the CIA test case."

    Or... it has a hard time parsing the acronym "CIA."

    Unlike FDA and FBI, the phonetic pronunciation of CIA sounds like two distinct words : See Eye Aye.

    Should test it with something similarly ambiguous, like "ICU" or "RUA"