Amazon’s Alexa told a child to do a potentially lethal challenge

Alexa, Amazon’s virtual assistant, over the weekend, told a 10-year-old girl to touch a live electrical plug with a penny.

CNBC reports that the suggestion was given out via an Echo smart speaker after the girl asked Alexa for a “challenge to do.”

“Plug in a phone charger about halfway into a wall outlet, then touch a penny to the exposed prongs,” CNBC quotes Alexa.

Amazon, through a spokesperson, said the error had been fixed.

CNBC says Alexa pulled the challenge from an online news publication called Our Community Now.

The challenge, which Alexa seemingly failed to vet, started appearing on social media platforms including TikTok around a year ago.

It’s dangerous because metals conduct electricity and inserting metal coins into a plug socket can result in violent electric shocks and fires, with some reports of people losing fingers and hands from taking the challenge.

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