Amazon said it updated its Alexa software after an Echo smart speaker instructed a 10-year-old to press a penny to an electrical plug's partially exposed wirings.
Kristin Livdah, the child's mother, shared a screenshot of her daughter's frightening contact with the Amazon AI speaker on Sunday.
The device's activity log revealed that it had advised the girl to put a phone charger into a wall socket and then touch the coin to its exposed prongs.
"OMFG. My 10-year-old daughter just asked Alexa and this is what she said," Livdahl posted on Twitter, alongside a screenshot of the challenge her AI voice assistant posed to her child.
According to the screenshot, the virtual assistant gave the girl 20 seconds to complete the task.
Livdahl said she was beside her daughter when Alexa gave the instruction and was able to intervene before anything possibly disastrous occurred.
The Outlet Challenge is popular on social media platforms such as TikTok, despite the fact that it can result in shocks, property damage, and fire. Posts demonstrating the challenge's outcome can be found using a variety of hashtags.
Around a year ago, the harmful practice began propagating on TikTok and other social media platforms.
Livdahl stated that she did not allow her daughter to attempt the challenge and instead reported the incident to Amazon.
Several risky trends have gained popularity on the social media platform over the years, and several of them have resulted in major injuries and even deaths.
While the site is swift to remove such videos, the process has not always been easy.Touching live wires can cause people to lose their fingers, hands, or arms, according to Michael Clusker, station manager of Carlisle East fire station in Yorkshire.
The Echo products from Amazon are among the most popular smart-home devices. However, Amazon and Alexa have faced criticism in the past, most notably regarding privacy.
After the deadly dare to attempt at home, Amazon said it rushed quickly to fix a "error" with its popular voice assistant.
In a statement, the company told the BBC that it had changed the software to prevent it from promoting such activities in the future.
"As soon as we were made aware of this error, we took immediate steps to correct it," Amazon said in a statement to multiple news agencies.
Customer trust is at the heart of everything Amazon does, and "Alexa is designed to offer accurate, relevant, and helpful information to customers," Amazon said in quotes by BBC.
