Not Your Usual Challenge
The girl’s mother, Kristin Livdahl, described exactly what happened on Twitter.
After attempting some fun options like laying down and rolling over holding a shoe on your foot, the pair asked for one more. And Livdhal was definitely shocked at the response.
Alexa offered a challenge it found on the web to plug in a phone charger halfway into a wall outlet and then touch the exposed prongs with a penny.
For anyone not on TikTok, that’s also known as the penny challenge that swept the popular social network. But inserting conductive metal into live electrical sockets can cause catastrophic injury to the challenger along with fire and other damage.
Livdhal quickly intervened and her daughter obviously wasn’t going to try out Alexa’s suggestion.
“As soon as we became aware of this error, we took swift action to fix it.”
Why Would Alexa Recommend the Penny Challenge?
The way Alexa answers questions is how it recommended the dangerous experiment.
When the virtual assistant doesn’t have an answer to your question in its database, it will turn to a web search just like everyone else.
Livdhal noted that Alexa said it found the challenge “on the web.”
Always Be Careful When Using Alexa With Children
This incident shows that parents should always be careful when allowing children to use technology. And remind them that just because Alexa says it, that doesn’t mean you should do it.
