Alexa? We have a problem

We steer clear of politics here at Privacy Parent—our focus is entirely on building a world in which technology prioritizes safety and security for the people who use it—but you don’t have to get into blue vs. red to see it’s a problem when Alexa is culling its answers from random internet commenters. The Washington Post reports Alexa, Amazon’s smart speaker, is telling people Donald Trump won Pennsylvania during the 2020 election (he didn’t), and citing Substack, where anyone can publish newsletters, as its source.

Regardless of how one feels about the way the 2020 election unfolded, it isn’t difficult to see why this kind of thing is a problem. How many query their smart speakers for information? What if it turns out that information comes from unreliable sources? A chilling thought.