Alexa's False Positives

I live alone and have lights controlled by Amazon Echo. Tonight, while sleeping, i closed my eyes and said “Alexa, lamp off.”
I heard a woman laugh, and lights were still on.

Now, I know that stupid device heard “laugh” instead of “lamp off”, but I can’t sleep anymore..... #fml

— Vedant Naik (@vedantNAIK) March 4, 2018

The Verge reported yesterday that Amazon's gadget Echo has a virtual assistant named Alexa which has been laughing at users; it also refuses to obey commands and gives other weird responses. According to reports, the laughing does not sound not Alexa's normal laughter sound files.

Alexa sometimes does this when its owners are lying in their rooms at night in the dark. This "known issue" is due to "false positives" when the machine thinks it has been told to laugh ... maybe.

Amazon stated that they are working on a fix for this.  Some users were skeptical and think that the Amazon is testing the psychological response on social media. Meanwhile, the hashtag #alexalaugh is going viral.

Horrified Amazon Echo Users Say Alexa Has Gone Creepily Insane while Laughing (8 March 2018). Video Source: Youtube.

Yeah, that's what's happening:

"#Alexa turn off the lights" is heard as "#Alexalaugh"

Uh-huh.

Sure. https://t.co/loMyLb6C6i

— Jeff Baumgarten (@Jeff_Baumgarten) March 8, 2018

Lying in bed about to fall asleep when Alexa on my Amazon Echo Dot lets out a very loud and creepy laugh... there’s a good chance I get murdered tonight.

— Gavin Hightower (@GavinHightower) February 26, 2018

So Alexa decided to laugh randomly while I was in the kitchen. Freaked @SnootyJuicer and I out. I thought a kid was laughing behind me. pic.twitter.com/6dblzkiQHp

— CaptHandlebar (@CaptHandlebar) February 23, 2018

Replying bc THIS creepy thing happened last night: we got home and, totally unprompted, our Amazon Echo/Alexa started talking. And then i realized it was listing off local cemeteries and funeral homes??? I'd rather it laugh at me tbh

— Kamo Boomin (@HeyItsKamo) March 7, 2018

'I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that'https://t.co/hzCBOhF5Vb

— Rob Waugh (@RobWaughMail) March 7, 2018

Mine whistled up stairs in my bedroom. No one's home besides me and my dogs. And my upstairs dog, I call her that because 1 dog stays downstairs at night to sleep on the couch lol. The other comes to bed at night with us. Alexa is in the trash, I thought I was losing my mind.

— The Nasty End Game (@Supermom1242) March 7, 2018

So, this is going to sound insane, and I do mean literally insane, but the gods as my witness...it really happened.

I was just asking #Alexa about my day tomorrow and checking for news and weather updates when she literally stopped doing what I asked her.

Literally.
Then...
1/

— Robert #Resist Sandy (@frodofied) March 7, 2018

She started doing random shit. No joke. But then I asked her to play my @BettyBuckley mix she scared the crap out of me by telling me the definition of the word please! I swear to God!

THEN,

And, not making this up, I said "Alexa you're freaking me out" & she fucking laughed!

— Robert #Resist Sandy (@frodofied) March 7, 2018

I didn't even know she laughed. I swear to you it was the scariest shit I ever heard.

Needless to say I unplugged my Echo and it is now sitting in the bottom of s box--away from me.

What's really weird is that I logged on tell you guys and Betty had just retweeted me.

— Robert #Resist Sandy (@frodofied) March 7, 2018

Having an office conversation about pretty confidential stuff and Alexa just laughed. Anybody else ever have that?

It didn't chime as if we had accidentally triggered her to wake. She simply just laughed. It was really creepy.

— David Woodland (@DavidSven) March 1, 2018

so my mom & I are just sitting in the living room, neither of us said a word & our Alexa lit up and laughed for no reason. she didn’t even say anything, just laughed.

we unplugged her.

— taylor wade (@taylorkatelynne) March 5, 2018

"They just wanted to turn off the lights. 'After the third request, Alexa stopped responding and instead did an evil laugh.'" 😳😳😳 https://t.co/PTtrYxSbbo

— Lisa Feierman (@lisathefeierman) March 6, 2018

oh god, if you have an echo, ask "Alexa, can you laugh?" and you'll hear the creepy "tee-hee" laugh that people are talking about. It's unnerving.

— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) March 7, 2018

#AlexaLaugh Mine doesn’t laugh but about a week ago, alone, watching TV at around midnight, she lights up and says, “He’s home. He’s home.” Freaked me out. #Amazon

— Evil Von Brainstorm (@Von_brainstorm) March 7, 2018

Jesus, the footage of Alexa laughing is so terrifying...

We are doomed#alexalaugh #llrc pic.twitter.com/Rrh3QwChMS

— adhiyajna (@facelesskrishna) March 8, 2018

Hearing @amazonecho laugh late at night when I didn't expect it, is the most momentarily frightening thing I have experienced.

— Mike (@Nouders) February 28, 2018

We caught wind of the #Alexa laugh today over in Games & Tech, and felt the need to express ourselves about it. Our thoughts on this disturbing phenomenon below- with a special word from our EIC.#alexalaugh https://t.co/0wYn0IputQ

— Third Coast Review (@ThirdCoastRvw) March 7, 2018

Guys, my alexa is doing the laugh thing as well....... #Alexa #alexalaugh #Alexalaughing #AmazonEcho #AmazonAlexa pic.twitter.com/dBX3jTpAVa

— Midnight_Vesper (@midnight_vesper) March 8, 2018

Daily Dot seems to have an interesting article about it with a bit more information. It isn't the normal laugh that Alexa is programed with and at the end of the article they suggest possible third party app or malware. My bet is on malware. https://t.co/xGkK4nPPBf

— BakerStreetCrow (@221Bcrow) March 7, 2018

This is why I unplugged mine! #alexalaugh https://t.co/PUsnisYFwv

— Aja Canyon (@AjaCanyon) March 8, 2018

Humans will regret training AI to do things we don’t want it to do. I’m not kidding here. This is the electronic equivalent of eating a tide pod. #alexalaugh https://t.co/sA1LTP3WXM

— Adam Holt (@adamholtwrites) March 8, 2018

you are assembling a powerful program that can control many different parts of your digital home, on a computer that you don’t own and can’t access. No wonder Alexa is laughing at you. #alexalaugh #Alexalaughing

— D (@ankur_vvvv) March 9, 2018

Who needs to watch #horror movies anymore? Just bring Alexa home and you’ll want to burn your house down while you’re still inside of it. #alexalaugh https://t.co/rVApFhXkf9

— Clayton Chandler (@Dark_Writes) March 8, 2018

#alexalaugh Fun option: a self-aware AI is laughing at us and Amazon can't control it. Probable option: someone hacked your cool eavesdropping tool.
Hindsight's 20/20, hmm?

— Riley Reality 🦇 (@ilvos01) March 9, 2018