'No, Alexa, no!': Mom stunned after Echo suggests child perform dangerous TikTok challenge

A Minnesota mom was astonished to hear her Amazon Echo suggest a dangerous TikTok challenge when her 10-year-old daughter asked the device to suggest an exercise this weekend.

The mom, Kristin Livdahl, said on social media that she and her daughter were trying to stay active inside and had been doing physical challenges instructed by a physical education teacher on YouTube.

Her daughter asked their Echo for another one, and Livdahl said the AI helper told the girl to plug in a phone charger about halfway into a wall outlet, then touch a penny to the exposed prongs.

Sunday, Livdahl tweeted a screenshot of the response Alexa gave and received over 16,000 likes and 4,000 retweets.

Livdahl said in the moment, she shouted "No, Alexa, no," but her daughter reassured her she was too smart to try it before consulting her.

I was right there and yelled, No, Alexa, no!” like it was a dog. My daughter says she is too smart to do something like that anyway.

— Kristin Livdahl (@klivdahl) December 27, 2021

The "penny challenge" circulated on TikTok in 2020.

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In Massachusetts, two high school students caused an outlet to spark and smoke while performing the challenge causing the local fire department to issue a PSA, according to a story by the Providence Journal, a part of the USA TODAY network. The fire marshal explained the "challenge" causes "sparks, electrical system damage, and in some cases fire.”

No deaths were reported from the challenge.

“Customer trust is at the center of everything we do and Alexa is designed to provide accurate, relevant, and helpful information to customers," an Amazon spokesperson told USA TODAY in an email. "As soon as we became aware of this error, we quickly fixed it, and will continue to advance our systems to prevent similar responses in the future.”

The company also issued an apology to Livdahl on Twitter and offered help.

As of Dec. 27, Twitter users reported that the AI helper no longer offers a suggestion when asked "Tell me a challenge to do."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Amazon Echo suggests TikTok 'penny challenge' to a child