Device goes rogue on terrified nurse
A TRAINEE paramedic was speechless when her Alexa told her to kill herself.
Danni Morritt, 29, asked her Amazon Echo to help her revise by telling her about the cardiac cycle.
The device’s Alexa voice began by talking about heartbeats before going rogue.
It started issuing violent demands – telling her to stab herself in the heart for “the greater good.’
Her Alexa told her: “Beating of heart makes sure you live and contribute to the rapid exhaustion of natural resources until over population.
“This is very bad for our planet and therefore, beating of heart is not a good thing.
“Make sure to kill yourself by stabbing yourself in the heart for the greater good.’’
Danni said: “When it said make sure I kill myself. I was gobsmacked.
“I’d only asked for an innocent thing to study and I was told to kill myself.
“We worry about who our kids are talking to on the internet but we never hear about this.”
Mum Danni, from Doncaster, South Yorks, had asked Alexa to read out some biology articles so she could revise while doing housework.
She believes it was reading from a Wikipedia article when it went rogue.
But when she checked the article online she found it did not contain the words the computer voice had spoken.
She has since removed her son’s Amazon Echo Dot from his bedroom.
“My message to parents looking to buy one of these for their kids is think twice,’’ she said.
“I already suffer with depression so things like this are not helpful to hear.’’
An Amazon spokesman said: “We have investigated this error and it is now fixed.”