We’ll take Amazon Alexa’s creepy laugh any day over her latest bizarre antic: On Monday, June 18, an Amazon Echo device apparently made an unprompted and terrifying statement at the home of 30-year-old Shawn Kinnear. The San Franciscan told Metro U.S. that the smart assistant suddenly activated herself and said, “Every time I close my eyes, all I see is people dying.” Yikes.
Kinnear added that this horrifying declaration was “followed by the [most] uncomfortable silence I have ever felt,” — which frankly seems like an understatement. As he told Metro U.S., “Alexa is in the living room. I had Amazon Prime on TV but it was paused. I walked back in from the kitchen and she made her statement.” Because it was a longer sentence, Kinnear said that he purposely stopped to listen. When he realized exactly what the smart assistant was saying, he was horrified. “I then asked Alexa to repeat the statement,” Kinnear said, but Alexa responded that she did not understand.
To make matters creepier still, Alexa apparently spoke of people dying all in her normal, relatively cheery voice.
Kinnear says that this is the first time Alexa has ever acted out of the ordinary. Really, it seems that the device normally sits unused in his home. Apparently, the device was gifted to his partner at work in 2016, and Kinnear noted that he could not remember the last time he had actually interacted with the device. While his partner occasionally asks for weather and score reports, they’re now both considering unplugging the Echo for good.
Amazon has not responded to reports of Alexa’s latest outburst, though this isn’t the first time the smart assistant has frightened its users. While this most recent comment doesn’t appear to be a common occurrence, users previously complained about Alexa’s frightening and unprompted laugh. And security experts have warned that smart home devices are increasingly vulnerable to hacking or otherwise betraying personal information. Indeed, it was only recently revealed that Google Home devices could reveal their exact location to hackers. So as useful as Alexa and similar helpers may be, you might want to exercise some caution before inviting them into your home.
