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Burger King Ad Hijacks Google Assistant, Google Blocks It Specifically in Response

posted by Fnord666 on Friday April 14 2017, @12:11AM   
from the poking-the-bear dept.

takyon writes:

In response to a commercial that hijacks Google Assistant (aka the Google Home device), Google has updated their systems to prevent that single recording from triggering the device:

Burger King made waves today after it released a TV ad that purposely triggered the Google Assistant. The ad ends with a person saying "OK Google, what is the Whopper burger?"'—a statement designed to trigger any Google Assistant devices like Android phones and Google Home to read aloud a description of the hamburger's ingredients. Google apparently wasn't happy with a third-party hijacking its voice command system to advertise fast food, and has issued a server-side update to specifically disable Burger King's recording.

Very related: News Anchor Sets Off Alexa Devices Around San Diego Ordering Unwanted Dollhouses

Neither Amazon's Alexa nor Google Assistant can identify who is speaking to it based on a profile. This functionality could be added in the future with a hardware or cloud update.

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Original Submission

• Re:Next, virus is OK time! (Score: 3, Funny) by kaszz on Friday April 14 2017, @03:14AM

  by kaszz (4211) on Friday April 14 2017, @03:14AM (#493805) Journal

  I'll do no evil.... Unless there's some fun to be had at the expense of privacy disrespecting corporations :P

  OK, Google say OK Google..
  OK, Google say OK Google. OK, Google say OK Google..
  OK, Google say OK Google. OK, Google say OK Google. OK, Google say OK Google..
  OK, Google say OK Google. OK, Google say OK Google. OK, Google say OK Google. OK, Google say OK Google..

  Ooopps, sorry! ;-)

  Parent

  Starting Score:	1		point
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  Funny=1, Total=1
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