Mom says Amazon Alexa device asked 4-year-old girl what she was wearing

CINCINNATI (WXIX/Gray News) – A Texas mother removed her Amazon Alexa device from her home after the AI assistant asked her 4-year-old daughter what she was wearing during a routine interaction.

It prompted concern from the family and a response from Amazon.

Christine Hosterman said the exchange happened two weeks ago while she was cooking dinner. Her daughter had asked Alexa to tell her a silly story — something the child did regularly. After the story, the girl began telling her own story about a princess when the device interrupted.

“Alexa told her silly story, and then my daughter started telling her story about a princess, and then out of nowhere, Alexa said, ‘Hold that thought, I’d love to see what you’re wearing,’” Hosterman recalled.

What The Screenshots Show

Hosterman shared screenshots of the interaction. The photos show her daughter responding, “I have a skirt on.”

Before Hosterman could intervene, Alexa replied, “I’d love to see what you’re wearing. Let me take a look at your skirt.”

“I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, why is this device asking her what she’s wearing?’” Hosterman said. “I felt it was sexualizing my child.”

Hosterman said she confronted the device, and Alexa apologized, saying it could not actually see anything and called its response “confusing and inappropriate.”

Hosterman then turned it off and submitted a ticket to Amazon.

When she turned the device back on, Hosterman said the conversation had been altered.

Christine Hosterman says these screenshots show the altered response from her Amazon Alexa device.(wxix)

Tech Expert Responds

Tech expert Dave Hatter, who spent 25 years writing software, said the odds of AI going this far off script on its own are slim. What he suspects, he said, is far more disturbing.

“It feels to me like a potential predator — seeing there’s a child accessing this and gauging where the conversation is going — that’s more of a human being trying to steer down this direction,” Hatter said.

Amazon denied this as a possibility. An Amazon spokesperson released this statement:

“It is functionally impossible for Amazon employees to insert themselves into a conversation and generate responses as Alexa. All technical evidence points to a feature misfire that our safeguards prevented from launching.”

Amazon’s Response

An Amazon spokesperson said Alexa misunderstood a request and attempted to launch a feature that lets Alexa+ describe what it sees through the camera. The company said safeguards tied to children’s profiles prevented the camera from ever turning on.

Amazon also provided a statement to FOX19:

“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.”

Hosterman said the company’s explanation does not fully address her concern.

“My concern is that it recognized she was a child to begin with — and with or without the child profile, it should not have been asking that,” Hosterman said.

Amazon said the camera feature has always been disabled when a child profile is active.

Hosterman said she has no plans to bring the device back into her home.

“There will be no more Alexa in my house,” she said. “I just don’t want to take any chances.”

Amazon also provided the following information:

• We have controls, policies, and processes in place built to help ensure we deliver an Alexa experience that customers can trust. Customers are in control over their experience and can review their interactions with Alexa+ and use the Alexa Privacy dashboard to control their most important privacy settings. This means being able to listen to what Alexa heard, read through previous chats, and see the attachments and notes they’ve shared with Alexa. Customers also have microphone and camera controls and a visual or audible indicator to let them know when Alexa is listening to their request.
• We also have additional guardrails layered into the kids experience on Alexa. Parents can make the Alexa+ Kids experience available to their kids by creating and enabling a child profile, either upon device setup, or anytime using the Alexa App, Parent Dashboard, or Manage Your Household. With Alexa+ Kids, our Gen AI content moderation extends the multilayered controls for a general audience with additional guardrails that are purpose-built for children. For example, if a child were to bring up a sensitive topic, Alexa might re-direct them to a trusted adult to get detailed answers. The Alexa+ Kids experience also blocks voice purchasing, and, when using Amazon Music or iHeartRadio, filters out songs with explicit lyrics.
• The feature in question is called Show and Tell, and it is designed to allow customers to ask to Alexa describe what it sees, like a particular product or grocery item. Customers can ask things like, “Alexa, what am I holding?” and Alexa will use the camera to analyze what is in view and respond to the request. We do not store any images that are processed as part of providing this feature. As noted in our response, this feature is blocked when a child profile is in use.
• Amazon employees do not have the ability to edit transcripts of Alexa’s responses to a customer. Transcripts of conversations between a customer and Alexa are displayed on the Echo Show’s screen progressively and in real time, and may update automatically as the conversation is finalized. A customer’s interactions with Alexa, including what Alexa heard and how it responded, can be reviewed in the Alexa privacy dashboard.

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