Alexa...tell me how to do my homework CHEATING KIDS GET ANSWERS FROM DEVICES

CHILDREN are cheating on their homework by using Amazon’s Alexa devices.

The know-all virtual assistant is handing out answers to lazy students who want top scores.

But parents and teachers fear pupils will struggle to learn problem-solving skills and retain basic maths and science.

Mum Denise Holt, 42 – who has three children – said: “It’s a really big concern in my household.

“My youngest son is only eight and we’ve heard him asking Alexa to give him answers to divisions and help him with his spelling quiz on his homework.”

Denise, from Newcastle, removed the device from the living room, but found her son using Apple’s Siri assistant on her phone to repeat his strategy.

She added: “He took my phone and whispered the questions to Siri, I couldn’t believe it.

“I’ve always been happy to sit down and teach my kids so they can learn along the way. I don’t think having a robot giving you the answers is healthy for their development.

“When they’re off at university I can’t monitor them or stop them from using Alexa or Siri. There’s nothing we can really do, it’s impossible.” In addition to cheating on homework, some parents have reported hearing children ask Alexa to help them come up with science project ideas, ways to cheat in an exam and find summaries of a book that they are supposed to have read.

Rachel Harris, a teacher in Manchester, said: “I think it’s very bad practice to be using these devices to help with homework and parents shouldn’t allow it.

“But if it’s the future then that’s just the way our lives are heading. What can we really do to stop it?”

Amazon has not responded directly to the concerns but encourages parents to use parental controls to stop access to the device.

A spokesman said: “Turning on parental controls using our FreeTime function can restrict access to certain features and impose daily time limits, and pauses on the device from anywhere between one and 12 hours.”

Meanwhile, a parrot called Rocco in Blewbury, Oxon, managed to order ice cream, strawberries and even a kettle using his owner’s device. The bird also learned how to play music through it.