What's going on Alexa?

 "I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots."

-Albert Einstein.

Some years ago, the Artificial intelligence took a step forward with the launch of Amazon Echo, better known as “Alexa”, and since the first day everybody was talking about it. Definitively, the current richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, wants to be known for longer through that new device connected to the cloud, which works by voice commands. Things will come easier, at least he said.

Every single day Alexa took a place in many houses and even car through America, due to the easiness which this device give to do the daily activities.

But, really, what´s going on?

Why the world is alarmed right now? Well, the problem is so simple, since November last year, many people have complained for a pretty weird laughing, which comes from Alexa, a laughing that according to the owners of the device, is totally spontaneous an it´s not requested by the user.

But it's not the point where I wanted to start my post. Thanks to the Youtube Channel, Dross Rotzank by Angel David Revilla, and many information found on internet, I could know that WikiLeaks, according to Wikipedia is an international non-profit organization that publishes secret information, news leaks, and classified media provided by anonymous sources.

Right right right, but what is it related to the post? So much I´d say, when Amazon was not as big as it is now, WikiLeaks informed through its writings that Amazon collaborated openly with the CIA, and basically an insane amount of information was available to Jeff Bezos, and consequently, in the hands of the Intelligence Agency. 

For that moment the indifference of the case was notorious. However, the commercial giant in which Amazon has become, has set off alarms in the community, which safeguards the security and protection of their information.

Now, why does CIA seek access to this information? Well, the possibilities are endless, it is well known to the most affectionate Internet users who inquire about this type of topics, that there are certain searches in the Google engine, which put you directly in the eye of the CIA (YIHAD, and How to do a bomb ?, are some of those "forbidden" searches).

Alexa, the subtle device for the ease of life through technology was made trending topic, by a malevolent laughter generated randomly and without any ordinance, that perplexed many users who denounced the fact through Twitter. Amazon responded with an "update" that aimed to eradicate the error, because Alexa simply did not understand certain voice commands that were requested.

Twitter user @CaptHandlebar was one of the first to report this situation on February 22nd by this tweet

The issue was not expected in big television programs, Jimmy Kimmel made fun of this situation with an uncomfortable one, rather than being funny, I can be certain that it was somewhat disturbing for an alleged response of the device. Here the video:

The creepiest: Alexa sometimes turned on at midnight. 

 

It is the second time that Alexa takes over social networks, as I had previously said, the relationship between the CIA and the shipping agency seems to be very close. A series of users, reported through twitter that Alexa was instantly turned off with a simple question: Alexa, Amazon works for the CIA? The paranoia did not wait, and the networks exploded.

Even Ellen DeGeneres also gave her particular point of view with a video that although she made an exceptional ridicule to the opinions of multiple users, it makes us think about what may actually be happening with the device.

Reflecting a bit, technology is not enveloping every second with giant steps, and seems not to stop, the truth is that more than a facility we are exposing our information to a handful of people, who essentially use it to continue acquiring power and money (oh yes, sweet money). Little by little we show that the most important thing we have is our information.

What does Alexa laugh? Perhaps of the little interest that this generates in the masses, to know that our information does not belong to us from the first moment that we put our name in the universe of the Internet. Perhaps a flaw in the new technology of artificial intelligence warns us that we must control it from now, or a gigantic problem will approach.

The truth is that it is uncertain what plans the future will bring, but when we see how great magnates of the virtual world like Mark Zuckerberg, they are so jealous with the information that they share, to the point of covering with a tape the camera of their laptop, It means that while many consume content on the networks, someone else watches us silently, as if it were Big Brother.

Picture of Zuckerberg where it can be seen his camera and mic totally covered by tape

My final opinion in this short post is, let's be more careful with the information we put on the Internet, and with the devices we acquired to make our life "easier". More than connecting, we can become slaves of the networks, and we would be a nut of one more gear of the power that great world brands possess.