One of Amazon’s newest projects is researching ways to make Alexa a more human-like communicator for customers, but sometimes the virtual assistant’s language comes across as creepy and offensive.
From Daily Caller:
New research is making Alexa better mimic human response, Reuters reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The research sometimes results in awkward moments for people who frequently interact with the device.
One user, for instance, was surprised after Alexa said: “Kill your foster parents.” It’s not an isolated incident, according to Reuters. There are also instances of Alexa chatting with users about graphic sex acts and dogs defecating.
The report also showed sources noting that a hack of Amazon traced back to China likely exposed some customers’ data. The hack comes as the company works night-and-day on operations making artificial intelligence better at handling complex human interactions.
“Many of our AI dreams are inspired by science fiction,” Rohit Prasad, Amazon’s vice president and head scientist of Alexa Artificial Intelligence (AI), said during a talk last month in Las Vegas.
Amazon created an annual Alexa Prize in 2016, giving out cash awards to scientists who can develop talking computer systems known as chatbots. The three chatbots that made it to the 2018 finals had 1.7 million conversations, Amazon told Reuters.
