A weird glitch has been causing Alexa to randomly laugh for no reason whatsoever, and it is seriously freaking out Amazon Echo owners.
Amazon has acknowledged the bug and said that it will be rolling out a fix, but it is unclear if that will really solve the problem. In the meantime, Amazon Echo owners will just have to put up with Alexa's creepy laugh.
Alexa Laughing Out Of Nowhere
Alexa is the digital assistant that makes the Amazon Echo line tick, but recently, it has also been terrifying some owners of the smart speakers.
According to reports compiled by BuzzFeed, there are times when Alexa would suddenly laugh for no reason. In some cases, the laughter came after voice commands that did not ask the digital assistant to laugh, and in other, more disturbing cases, Alexa laughed without anything going on around the Amazon Echo.
Making matters worse is that the laughter Alexa uses is not the digital assistant's built-in recording. The laugh used by Alexa has been described as "creepy" and "evil," and sounded like a real person instead of a digital voice.
@amazonecho alone in the dark kitchen, with no trigger, a sudden creepy laugh emerges and freaks out owners #justwrong. Replay: pic.twitter.com/vR684u8mbN — anne (@anniebonannieTN) February 21, 2018
So Alexa decided to laugh randomly while I was in the kitchen. Freaked @SnootyJuicer and I out. I thought a kid was laughing behind me. pic.twitter.com/6dblzkiQHp — CaptHandlebar (@CaptHandlebar) February 23, 2018
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. — Gavin Hightower (@GavinHightower) February 26, 2018
I live alone and have lights controlled by Amazon Echo. Tonight, while sleeping, i closed my eyes and said “Alexa, lamp off.” I heard a woman laugh, and lights were still on. Now, I know that stupid device heard “laugh” instead of “lamp off”, but I can’t sleep anymore..... #fml — Vedant Naik (@vedantNAIK) March 4, 2018
Amazon Echo owners are now formulating various theories on what is happening with Alexa. One explanation is that this is a prank being played by an Amazon employee, or in a more serious tone, a hacking attack that has not yet been properly identified. The creepy Alexa laugh may also mean that the digital assistant is starting to evolve into Skynet, though it may also just mean errant coding in one of its skills.
Will Amazon's Solution Really Work?
Amazon said that it will fix the problem by disabling the phrase "Alexa, laugh" and changing the voice command to "Alexa, can you laugh?" According to Amazon, the new phrase will lead to less instances of Alexa hearing the voice command to let out its creepy laughter. The response of Alexa will also be changed from simply laughing to first saying "Sure, I can laugh" followed by the laughter.
However, looking at Amazon's plans, it is unclear if the solution will indeed put an end to the cases of Alexa randomly laughing. As reported by some users, they have heard Alexa laugh out of nowhere without any possibility that nearby conversations triggered their Amazon Echo to wake with misheard voice commands.
We'll just have to wait and see if Amazon's fix works, or if reports of Alexa laughing randomly continue to trickle in.
