Alexa Now Laughs at Random Times, the End is Near

The idea of having digital assistant like Alexa in the home is a controversial one. Some people welcome them with open arms, some are dead-set against it, and others are willing to try it until something happens to convince them otherwise.

This is probably that moment for at least a few people.

Yes, Alexa is laughing at users. Creepy, unprompted laughter that seems to come at any time, day or night. The video posted below happened while the user was standing in the kitchen. Another user reports Alexa laughing while they’re nodding off to sleep. Others report Alexa ignoring their commands and simply laughing. Resistance is futile, apparently.

Amazon’s response? “We’re aware of this and working to fix it.”

Some users refuse to keep smart speakers in their homes for fear that they’re being listened to and recorded. They’re afraid that the things they say in private will be used to, at best, deliver specifically-crafted advertisements on their Internet-connected devices and, at worst, be held onto for more nefarious data-collecting purposes. That’s a valid fear. Alexa’s random laughter is just a bug that’s triggering a feature that’s specifically built into the device.

That being said, the laughter is so, so much creepier. The robot apocalypse is scarier than we could have ever imagined. It’s like they’ve studied us and determined what scares us, in this case the paranormal, and they’re using that against us. Meanwhile Elon Musk is shooting cars through space while paving the way for our demise at the stainless steel hands of our music players and our toasters.