A father has spoken out after his Alexa reportedly advised him to 'punch his kids in the throat' in order to get some peace and quiet.
While Alexa isn't the first person I'd decide to go to if I needed parenting advice, Adam Chamberlain went to the device after seeing a Reddit thread compiling 'funny' questions to ask the Amazon speaker.
Granted, children can be seriously frustrating at times - and a single moment of calm can be like gold dust - but the Sheffield pub landlord got much more specific and violent instructions than he bargained for when he questioned Alexa about how to quieten his kids down.
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Perhaps Alexa was simply trying her hand at a bit of trick or treat Halloween humour?
Either simply out of interest - or perhaps at his wit's end - Adam asked the Amazon speaker: "Alexa, how do you stop kids from laughing?"
Alexa responded: "According to an Alexa Answers contributor, if appropriate, you could punch them in the throat.
"If they are writhing in pain and unable to breathe, they will be less likely to laugh."
Adam posted the video on TikTok, finding it more 'funny' than terrifying.
He reflected: "21,000 people liked it so I think it tickled some people.
"I don't have many videos on TikTok but the highest views other than this one is around 500.
"This video has had 214,000 views so far so I was shocked at the response."
However, some of Adam's followers weren't convinced and accused him of having staged the video.
The pub landlord responded: "There have been a few comments saying it was a routine that it was programmed.
"It's not. I'm just glad my video made a few people laugh."
The answer - formulated by an Alexa Answers contributor - has since been removed from devices.
A spokesperson for Amazon told LADbible: "This answer was removed in September as soon as we became aware of it.
"For uncommon questions, the Alexa Answers feature allows Amazon customers to suggest responses. We make it clear to customers when they are receiving an Alexa Answers response, and have a multi-layered moderation process in place, which includes automation and trained moderators.
"In the rare instances when answers do not meet the high bar we set for the Alexa experience, we quickly remove them, as we did in this case. We also block contributions from individuals who do not conform to our Community Guidelines"
Topics: Parenting, Amazon, Technology, TikTok, Social Media, Viral
Poppy Bilderbeck