Amazon’s got jokes

– Posted on April 12, 2018Posted in: Entertainment, Lifestyle, New and Noteworthy, Opinion

Kaitlin Barnett

Copy Editor

My roommate and I were in our room discussing the day’s events and winding down one evening when in the next room we heard what was undeniably a woman laughing. I rushed in, only to see the TV was off and the room was empty. We decided it was someone outside our apartment complex and went about our night until we heard it again, only this time we watched our Amazon Echo light up as Alexa let out a laugh.

There have been many reports of Amazon’s Echo products laughing at random in people’s homes. According to the New York Times, Amazon ralexaeleased an official statement regarding the laughter saying Alexa mistakes common phrases for “Alexa, laugh.” They announced they are going to change the programming to only respond to “Alexa, will you laugh?” They also released Alexa won’t launch immediately into a laugh; the program will instead acknowledge the request and then laugh.

Why would anyone want to hear the device laugh in the first place? How does this explain the incidences reported where the room was silent as Alexa decided to let loose? Why would Alexa seemingly begin laughing overnight?

Personally, I yanked the cord on my Echo and have yet to plug it back in. All I ever used it for was to listen to music, so I decided to sell it and buy a speaker instead. There are many stories regarding privacy rights being violated, as Alexa is “always listening.” I feel this “glitch” could possibly be a cover-up for a privacy hack into Amazon’s system.

There are other issues surrounding these devices as well, such as children accidentally ordering items or the device misunderstanding what you say, which could cause all kinds of issues such as lights or music turning on and off, calling or messaging your contacts without realizing, etc.

Say what you may about Amazon’s Echo devices, but I personally will not be purchasing any for myself. Though I haven’t sworn off the entire Amazon company (I ordered my new speaker from their site!) I have decided I will no longer be purchasing their Echo products.