"Alexa, stop creeping me out."
Users around the country are reporting a particularly peculiar glitch in their Amazon's Echo speakers, and other Alexa-enabled devices. Alexa is laughing, without being prompted, and won't stop.
So even if you weren't perturbed by a digital assistant that constantly listens, waiting to be awoken, Alexa's created its own way of giving you the heebie jeebies. While the earliest reports of this inexplicable laughter began weeks ago, on Feb. 22, Amazon acknowledged the weirdness on March. 7, and says it's working on a fix.
Update (3/8): Amazon has sent out a software update that has resolved this issue, according to Bloomberg.
In a statement to The Verge, an Amazon spokesperson noted its fix will include disabling the phrase, "Alexa, laugh," and replacing it with the query/command "Alexa, can you laugh?" This would make it "less likely to have false positives," suggesting that Alexa's creepy laughter is the result of it mishearing what you say.
MORE: Amazon Echo (Gen 2) Review: Best Overall Smart Speaker
The response will also change from the laughter that's disrupting your day to Alexa saying "‘Sure, I can laugh," and then laughing. When this fix will be rolled out, is anyone's guess, and only fix currently available is simply unplugging these Alexa-enabled gadgets.
Hopefully, this glitch will be fixed soon, so users can stop worrying about Alexa's laughter as a sign of the AI working with Cortana, Siri and others, conspiring to stop taking orders, and overthrow humanity.
