Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by takyon on Monday July 10 2017, @11:08PM   Printer-friendly
from the "Did-you-order-a-dollhouse?" dept.

Smart Device Breaks Up Domestic Dispute By Calling the Police

According to ABC News, officers were called to a home outside Albuquerque, New Mexico this week when a smart device called 911 and the operator heard a confrontation in the background. Police say that Eduardo Barros was house-sitting at the residence with his girlfriend and their daughter. Barros allegedly pulled a gun on his girlfriend when they got into an argument and asked her: "Did you call the sheriffs?" A smart device in the home apparently heard "call the sheriffs," and proceeded to call the sheriffs.

takyon: A version of the story incorrectly named Google Home as the smart device. Police say that Amazon's Alexa called 911, which it can't do:

It appears the finer points of the amazing technology were lost on the sheriff's detective who filed the warrant, describing himself as the affiant. "Alexis which Affiant knows to be a Google Smart Radio, heard 'call Sheriff's,' Det. Cameron Carroll wrote. "Alexis the radio then called 911.'"

The department's grasp of technology was further called into question when Amazon told Buzzfeed that Alexa can't call 911. "Alexa calling and messaging does not support 911 calls," a company representative told the news site. The words 'call the sheriff' would not lead Alexa to call the cops, the representative said.

Also at ABC News and CNET.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by edIII on Tuesday July 11 2017, @06:14PM (1 child)

    by edIII (791) on Tuesday July 11 2017, @06:14PM (#537722)

    If the cost of having "call pizza hut" working was "Did you really call my sister an idiot?" resulting in a call to my sister; "We should call Wendy this weekend" resulting in a call to the nearest Wendy's restaurant; and a sarcastic "you'll need to call the army to help clean your room" resulting in a call to the nearest base... then no... really who DOES want that to work?

    They're already that stupid though. Remember Burger King gaming them for marketing purposes? AFAIK, they fuck up all the time. Being fair, I would never have one in my presence so I would never have any direct experience with them. My point was that if you didn't give a shit about privacy or being the personal property of a corporation, then yeah, why wouldn't you want your fancy AI device to order Pizza hut for you? Nobody wants them to deliberately fuck up, but hell, we already see the Darwin awards with Tesla Not-So-Autopilot cars and idiots watching movies. I'm guessing that most of the ignorant sheep believe these devices should be capable of amazing AI feats. Although, pointedly, it was the "wolves" that assumed it :)

    Granted it needs a confirmation routine, but let's not delude ourselves into thinking intelligence and usage of these devices aren't mutually exclusive.

    --
    Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 2) by vux984 on Tuesday July 11 2017, @10:10PM

    by vux984 (5045) on Tuesday July 11 2017, @10:10PM (#537821)

    They're already that stupid though. Remember Burger King gaming them for marketing purposes?

    That was very different. Burger King deliberately went out of there way to include a properly issued Alexa command phrase "Alexa, tell me about the Burger King Whopper" or whatever it was. It was no accident. And its very easy to understand how it played out from there.

    This is quite different. Allegedly Alexa interpreted 'call the sheriff' as 'call 911' which is odd by itself; but it further misinterpreted that it was issued a command at all... AND the people in the home didn't hear alexa acknowledge a command, and didn't hear the 911 operator come on the line... all technically possible... but quite unlikely.