By now, you’ve heard the story that our new housemate, Alexa, is fallible. Inexplicably, there are reports Amazon Echo devices are breaking into unsolicited laughter to the amazement, astonishment, and even horror of their owners.
While some people are shocked at this news, anyone involved in software development probably broke out their own quiet knowing smiles. When you’re dealing with new products and new code, anything can happen – and often does.
Amazon quickly admitted it had a problem, and immediately tried to start figuring out why some Alexa devices were suffering from spontaneous laughter (especially during this news cycle).
For Alexa doubters, this bizarre development reinforces their skepticism about these devices. Still, smart speakers – led by a wide margin by Amazon Echo models – are proliferating in a major way.
I was staring over our research maven, Jason Hollins’ shoulder, over the weekend poring over the preliminary results of Techsusrvey 2018 – 64,000+ respondents strong.
Our data shows smart speaker penetration has nearly doubled – in just one year. In last year’s survey, 11% owned an Amazon, Google, or similar product. This year, we’re now looking at 21% of our total sample. That’s impressive growth for any breakout device.
But since their debut, many have expressed all sorts of concerns about smart speakers – privacy issues and eavesdropping worries among them.
To be surprised about a glitch or even some sort of software hack is pure naivety. Even the most expensive devices, gadgets, and platforms experience fails, including iPhone crashes, Netflix buffering , and SiriusXM outages. And from time to time, radio stations even go off the air.
And there’s a reason why there are all those app updates on your phone, as well as those inconvenient system software updates. Developers are putting out digital fires, not always easy to anticipate. And some days, it’s one right after another.
At jācapps, we’ve had a great run with our mobile apps for radio, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t issues that crop up when new phones hit the market, as well as other unexpected glitches.
Consider that smartphones are used while people are on the go, traveling at fast speeds from cell tower to cell tower. Meantime, telecommunications companies may be throttling bandwidth. Yet, we expect these mini-computers to work seamlessly – all the time.
When you think about it, most new products require tweaking and fine-tuning. Including brand new radio stations. Oftentimes, we sign them on jockless and commercial-free, while the programming team gets feedback, conducts research, and refines the sound over the course of many weeks.
But with technology we expect perfection.
And smart speakers fall under the Artificial Intelligence banner, so when a device gets stupid or finicky, it’s news. Some people are creeped out by laughing Alexa. We’ve seen enough sci-fi movies where the machines or computers run amok, so when it appears to be happening in your kitchen or den, that’s a bit disturbing.
On Twitter,
Twitter: “Amazon’s Alexa is acting up and spontaneously laughing for no reason.”
Most people: “Just a malfunction.”
Me: “GHOSTS!!” 👻
— Jonny Loquasto (@JQuasto) March 7, 2018
Is Alexa laughing at us, or with us?
— Frankie (@franke) March 8, 2018
Realistically, things are going to happen, machines and software are going to hiccup, and as hard as it may be to accept, we just have to be a little patient while the genius coders debug their brilliant innovations so we can get back to ordering diapers, playing “Jeopardy,” or listening to our favorite radio stations.
Otherwise, Alexa will get the last laugh.
BREAKING: As I was putting the finishing touches on this post, Amazon announced it had diagnosed and addressed Alexa’s random giggling issues. According to The New York Times, the problem is that Amazon Echo technology sometimes hears the invocation, “Alexa, laugh,” when it fact the user is saying something else. So, they’ve changed the command to a more complex, “Alexa, can you laugh?”
For radio broadcasters struggling to come up with just the right invocation to trigger the station’s stream, this has been no laughing matter.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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I don’t believe in ghosts or BS, so I think it’s a hack. Last night, I was reading to my daughter in another part of the house when we started hearing something like a party next door – except there is no next door. Turns out Alexa was having a party in her, er, its head. Bizarre. Being just a bit OCD, I reviewed the chapter for possible triggering words, e.g. “Alexa, let’s party!” or “Uh, let’s part the seas,” but found nothing remotely close. The timing of the reports is also interesting – mass hysteria or time bomb?
John, who knows? Or just a glitch. Or as Amazon asserts, just a garbled invocation. But that doesn’t erase fears that many have about AI run amok. Thanks for the comment.
Thanks for both the article and the update at the end, Fred. I asked Alexa to laugh just now and got nothing. But when I said, “Alexa, can you laugh?”, I got, “Sure, I can laugh. Teehee”!
While on the subject, here’s a personal anecdote regarding that mysterious “bond” between man and machine. As anyone who has one of these devices knows, yes, it can misunderstand commands, and then sometimes get still more confused trying to get it to do what you initially wanted. One evening, Alexa seemed to get only more confused with each command and I jokingly “snapped” at her. Sure enough, her response was something along the lines of a contrite, “I’m sorry, I’ll try to do better.” I got to tell ya, I felt terrible!! I literally felt bad for hurting the “feelings”(?) of a computer!
Makes you realize in this strange, new world we’re venturing further and further into, understanding PEOPLE is JUST as important as understanding technology!
The theme of feeling sorry for robots plays out in every episode of “Westworld” on HBO. I continue to say “please” and “thank-you” to Alexa – because that’s the way I’ve been taught make requests. Thanks for the illuminating comment, David.
Here in Northern Virginia (and perhaps elsewhere), Cox Cable is running a TV commercial for its “Gigablast” Internet service: an older woman – who obviously lives some distance away – “visits” her young granddaughter remotely via a robotic monkey puppet. Together, they play and interact with each other in a puppet show, a kitchen-chemistry experiment and a piano duet.
It is especially creepy for me, knowing that Grandma could die in her sleep, and the puppet wont pop to life the next morning which will freak out the granddaughter. Worse, someone is bound to hack the puppet one night and, in a low guttural voice, growl “I’m-m watching you slee-ee-eep….” to her.
Technology won’t be laughing the next time — it’ll be keeping us awake all night with a baseball bat under our pillows.
That’s an ominous vision, Alan, but one that I’m sure many are imagining. There are many more chapters to come in this play about humans interacting with AI. Thanks for commenting.