Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa creeping out owners with random fits of laughter

Image: INQUIRER.net Stock Photo

Alexa, the virtual assistant in Amazon Echo smart speakers, has been laughing at random moments and owners are not happy with it.

In an exclusive statement to The Verge, Amazon said they were working to stop Alexa from randomly laughing and scaring people.

One of the fixes they plan to implement is to disable the phrase “Alexa, laugh” and replace it with “Alexa, can you laugh?” The company said the first phrase created false positives, which made Alexa “think” someone is asking it to laugh.

To further tone down the scare effect, the company plans to include the phrase “Sure, I can laugh” before Alexa starts laughing.

A report from Buzzfeed mentioned people thinking they were being haunted by a ghost since Alexa would start laughing out of nowhere, even in the middle of the night.

Image: Twitter/@GavinHightower

Apparently Alexa even sings when she feels like it.

Image: Twitter/@bwcartee

Instead of unplugging Alexa, one netizen suggested getting another Echo so the two could laugh together and harmonize.

Image: Twitter/@thisjenlewis

One owner managed to video Alexa laughing out of the blue.  /ra

https://twitter.com/CaptHandlebar/status/966838302224666624

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