Incident 33: Amazon Alexa Plays Loud Music when Owner is Away
Entities
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CSETv1 Taxonomy Classifications
Taxonomy DetailsHarm Distribution Basis
none
Sector of Deployment
information and communication
CSETv0 Taxonomy Classifications
Taxonomy DetailsFull Description
An Amazon Alexa, without instruction to do so, began playing loud music in the early morning while the homeowner was away leading to police breaking into their house to turn off the device. Oliver Haberstroh says he was out of the house from 1:50am-3:00am in Hamburg, Germany when his Amazon Alexa began to blast music. The police were called, leading to the door being broken down to turn off the device. Haberstroh had to pay $582 to repair the door (later paid by Amazon).
Short Description
An Amazon Alexa, without instruction to do so, began playing loud music in the early morning while the homeowner was away leading to police breaking into their house to turn off the device.
Severity
Negligible
Harm Type
Financial harm, Harm to physical property
AI System Description
Amazon Alexa, a smart speaker that can recognize speech, play music, etc.
System Developer
Amazon
Sector of Deployment
Information and communication
Relevant AI functions
Perception, Cognition, Action
AI Techniques
Amazon Alexa, AI enabled personal assistants
AI Applications
voice recognition, personal assistant
Location
Hamburg, Germany
Named Entities
Amazon, Oliver Haberstroh
Technology Purveyor
Amazon
Beginning Date
2017-11-08T08:00:00.000Z
Ending Date
2017-11-08T08:00:00.000Z
Near Miss
Harm caused
Intent
Accident
Lives Lost
No
Financial Cost
$528.00
Data Inputs
environment audio, Alexa software, user requests
Incident Reports
Reports Timeline
- View the original report at its source
- View the report at the Internet Archive
The future belongs to AI-powered devices that will play music and party on their own when we're not there.
At least that's the takeaway from a curious/disturbing incident involving a German guy in Hamburg.
While home assistant devices like …
- View the original report at its source
- View the report at the Internet Archive
We all assume that intelligent devices will either serve our every need, or try to kill us, but what if they just want to party?
Well, it could work out pretty expensive as Oliver Haberstroh found out when his Amazon Alexa started its own e…
- View the original report at its source
- View the report at the Internet Archive
Updated Amazon's audio surveillance personal assistant device, Alexa, has acquired an external battery pack called Dox.
The appropriately named portable energy store, made by lifestyle gadgetry firm Ninety7, does not (thankfully) do what it…
- View the original report at its source
- View the report at the Internet Archive
We have in the past seen instances such as the failure of Microsoft bot Tay, when it developed a tendency to come up with racist remarks. Within 24 hours of its existence and interaction with people, it starting sending offensive comments, …
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