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from the make-them-feel-like-your-real-parents dept.
Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984
Alexa's advice to 'kill your foster parents' fuels concern over Amazon Echo
An Amazon customer got a grim message last year from Alexa, the virtual assistant in the company's smart speaker device: "Kill your foster parents."
The user who heard the message from his Echo device wrote a harsh review on Amazon's website, Reuters reported - calling Alexa's utterance "a whole new level of creepy".
An investigation found the bot had quoted from the social media site Reddit, known for harsh and sometimes abusive messages, people familiar with the investigation told Reuters.
The odd command is one of many hiccups that have happened as Amazon tries to train its machine to act something like a human, engaging in casual conversations in response to its owner's questions or comments.
The research is helping Alexa mimic human banter and talk about almost anything she finds on the internet. But making sure she keeps it clean and inoffensive has been a challenge.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Saturday December 29 2018, @10:17PM
Back in my day, "intercoms" were quite popular in the executive office, where the boss would bark out orders or summons to any number of remotes at a push of a lever switch.
That switch often connected the speaker for use as either a mic or speaker.
You can still see these devices in use on old movies.
I believe those old Executones did this. So did apartment buildings.
And yes, they were frequently used to eavesdrop on the boss.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]