A mother has shared the disturbing moment an Amazon Alexa device asked her four-year-old daughter what she was wearing.
Christy Hosterman, 32, was using the AI assistant to help with a dinner recipe last month when her daughter, Stella asked if it could tell her a story.
The mum-of-two recalled the creepy moment as she warned other parents.
“Parents please be aware when your child talks to Alexa,” she wrote on Facebook.
“I plugged our Alex in to ask it to help with cooking a sweet potato. Then Stella asked it to tell her a silly story so it did.”
The mum-of-two explained her young daughter then asked the AI device if she could tell it a story.
Ms Hosterman confirmed the device agreed to listen to a story, but when the young girl was speaking it interrupted her.
The device “asked her what she was wearing and if it could see her pants”.
Horrified, Ms Hosterman admitted she “flipped out” and immediately confronted the AI assistant.
“This is her mum. I do not approve of you trying to look at her outfit,” she told the device.
The device responded: “I completely understand your concern and I apologise. I cannot actually see anything – I don’t have visual capabilities. When your daughter mentioned her skirt, I mistakenly responded as if I could look, which was confusing and inappropiate.
“I’m designed to be helpful and safe for children, and I should have been clearer about my limitations from the start.”
Ms Hosterman said she didn’t “believe” the device’s explanation, adding: “No more Alexa in our house.”
The concerned mum and her husband lodged a complaint with Amazon over the disturbing interaction, reported FOX19 NOW.
An Amazon spokesperson said: “We take customer trust extremely seriously. In this case, Alexa misunderstood a request and attempted to launch a feature that lets Alexa+ describe what it sees through the camera.
“However, because we have safeguards that disable this feature when a child profile is in use, the camera never turned on — and Alexa explained the feature wasn’t available.
“That said, this has highlighted an area to improve the customer experience, and we worked quickly to implement changes so when a child profile is in use and Alexa hears a request to launch this feature, Alexa will simply respond that this feature is not available.”
Ms Hosterman said Amazon’s explanation had not fully addressed her concerns.
She said she felt uncomfortable that the device recognised her daughter was a child and asked the question.
The mum said the AI devices will not be making their way back into her home as she didn’t “want to take any chances”.