Alexa, why are you cackling like a witch?

IT is supposed to be a hi-tech home help that does as we say.

But Amazon’s voice assistant Alexa has been letting out a creepy cackle despite not having been spoken to. Spooked-out users have been reporting the ‘witch-like’ laugh, claiming it happened without the device, pictured, being activated.

Others said the cackle occurred after they asked Alexa to perform a task, such as playing music.

voice assistants such as Alexa and Google Home are designed to act only when prompted.

But this supposed glitch is happening without users waking their devices up. One horrified user wrote on Twitter: ‘ WHy DID My AlEXA JUST lAUGH OUT Of THE BlUE?!?!?!?’

Another said: ‘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.’

Experts have raised privacy fears over voice assistants because our commands can be recorded and stored elsewhere.

last night Amazon said it was aware of the issue and was working to fix it.