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Original poster

Alexa has just whispered to me - freaked out.

237 replies

FavouritePJs · 04/12/2025 23:07

My Alexa has just whispered to me and I couldn’t understand what it said, I asked her to repeat and she told me there was nothing to repeat. I’ve played it back in the app and it sounded like a male saying “Alexa drop” it’s nobody in our house and we dont use Alexa drop. I have unplugged it but feel (stupidly) frightened by it. My husband is on a nightshift - I don’t think I’ll sleep. My daughter doesn’t seem to think that anyone can just drop in but if it wasn’t that, what was it?

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Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
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Nevernonono · 05/12/2025 06:43

BoxingHares22 · 05/12/2025 04:08

For gods sake, why do people leave it on all the time? I was given one years ago and we only use it to play music or the radio then unplug it. I would never have one on all the time listening in.

Kinda defeats the object turning it off if you’ve got in controlling lights, heating, tv etc!

HideousKinky · 05/12/2025 06:55

BoxingHares22 · 05/12/2025 04:08

For gods sake, why do people leave it on all the time? I was given one years ago and we only use it to play music or the radio then unplug it. I would never have one on all the time listening in.

My daughter is a computer scientist and her field is AI.
She won't have one in the house.
That's not because she thinks it's haunted but because it's listening to you constantly

Greysowhat · 05/12/2025 07:01

Jesus! I'm so glad I don't have Alexa!!

breezyyy · 05/12/2025 07:02

PenelopeChipShop · 05/12/2025 06:22

I am freaked out by the very idea of Alexa and if I ever use chat GPT I always say thank you, just in case the robots ever take over and remember me…

My dd would quite like one and I was considering getting her one for Christmas but not after reading this thread!

That’s so funny and sweet. And probably a good idea!

I think we’re observed enough without purposefully inviting it in, I hope you can talk your dd out of it.

landlordhell · 05/12/2025 07:05

breezyyy · 05/12/2025 02:13

I agree, freaky shit.

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Well I was considering it but not now. Always thought it was vulnerable to interference. God knows what others can hear of your conversations.

breezyyy · 05/12/2025 07:06

HideousKinky · 05/12/2025 06:55

My daughter is a computer scientist and her field is AI.
She won't have one in the house.
That's not because she thinks it's haunted but because it's listening to you constantly

Show quote history

I was following a thread about robot floor cleaners, (with interest to be honest) but it gave me a bad feeling. It’s a slippery slope!

breezyyy · 05/12/2025 07:08

landlordhell · 05/12/2025 07:05

Well I was considering it but not now. Always thought it was vulnerable to interference. God knows what others can hear of your conversations.

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That’s my worry, surely your home is the last bastion of privacy! At least it should be.

LividArse · 05/12/2025 07:10

I'm in an end terrace and assumed we had a ghost when the Alexa in my little boy's room kept randomly playing songs, even when we were out.

A bit of deduction worked out that next door's kids were shouting at their Alexa and she'd heard them through the wall, though I hadn't.

Have you got attached neighbours OP?

Titasaducksarse · 05/12/2025 07:12

We bought a second hand Dab radio....freaked us out the first night when it came on ay 6am. Only the alarm function lol.

However it's interesting re smart devices listening in as, for my work, we're advised to make sure they're switched off when working from home so they're not picking up confidential conversations.

Timeforabitofpeace · 05/12/2025 07:14

Interesting @VimesandhisCardboardBoots

GrandmasCat · 05/12/2025 07:16

HideousKinky · 05/12/2025 06:55

My daughter is a computer scientist and her field is AI.
She won't have one in the house.
That's not because she thinks it's haunted but because it's listening to you constantly

Show quote history

Interesting that you mention that, DS who is into any kind of tech, gadgets or developments, flatly refused to have one in the house when I mentioned I was think of getting one.

Savoury · 05/12/2025 07:16

HideousKinky · 05/12/2025 06:55

My daughter is a computer scientist and her field is AI.
She won't have one in the house.
That's not because she thinks it's haunted but because it's listening to you constantly

Show quote history

It stores seconds and then discards it. Think of it like sampling.
There is no way Amazon could afford to store all the verbal output in Alexa enabled households - it would be punitively expensive in storage costs alone.
I won’t have one in my bedroom though as the idea of the kids dropping in freaks me out. (Anyone outside the household can’t drop in unannounced).

Andromed1 · 05/12/2025 07:20

I've never used Alex and certainly won't after reading this! Hope OP has recovered.

localnotail · 05/12/2025 07:20

I unplugged mine once I realised it lights up blue at random moments (which means its listening) - I really did not like that.

I also find it annoying as it can never understand what music to play, such idiot.

GrandmasCat · 05/12/2025 07:23

Savoury · 05/12/2025 07:16

It stores seconds and then discards it. Think of it like sampling.
There is no way Amazon could afford to store all the verbal output in Alexa enabled households - it would be punitively expensive in storage costs alone.
I won’t have one in my bedroom though as the idea of the kids dropping in freaks me out. (Anyone outside the household can’t drop in unannounced).

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Everytime I use ChatGPT, I am less worried about the data that may be stored than the fact that we are training the “monster”.

I had a brief stint working with an AI development group at the time nobody believed computers could produce art… it took a short few weeks of early “genetic programming” before the thing could be better at image composition than an art student.

custardcreme77 · 05/12/2025 07:23

Blizzardofleaves · 05/12/2025 06:00

My aunt was cleaning her kitchen when Alexa growled ‘get out’ she was so scared. Even on a summers day, at lunch time she didn’t know if it was someone trying to warn her to leave the house.

She unplugged that thing a few hours later, and has never touched it since. She couldn’t sleep for a week.

Is it true that anyone can hack into them and listen? They are not secure.

😱😱😱

GrandmasCat · 05/12/2025 07:26

To that person who mentioned about the White Noise movie… just read the plot in Wikipedia and I’m not freaking out just because the day is breaking! 😱

AngelinaFibres · 05/12/2025 07:26

DuchessDandelion · 04/12/2025 23:44

I won't have them in the house. The whole premise is sinister.

My husband loves technology but won't have this in the house. He's not a woooo person and definitely not one for conspiracy theories but he absolutely won't go anywhere near this thing.

TeamGeriatric · 05/12/2025 07:26

Hope you got some sleep, Alexa does behave erratically in our house sometimes, but that would freak me out.

Banana667628 · 05/12/2025 07:26

My dad passed away in June, we were no contact for 6 years before he passed, he really wasn’t a good person and I even feel guilty now for saying that after he’s passed. In the first few weeks when I was absolutely sick with grief and guilt, I was home alone sat on the sofa in the living room, when FULL BLAST the song he used to sing to me as a child started playing on the Alexa in the kitchen. There is absolutely no logical reason for this. And I know it sounds ‘woo’, I have no reason to lie. It was oddly comforting and strange at the same time.

GoodQueenWenceslaus · 05/12/2025 07:26

FavouritePJs · 04/12/2025 23:38

I didn’t whisper and it actually lit up blue, as if I’d given it a command

Can you be sure you didn't mutter something as you were dropping off to sleep?

WhamBamThankU · 05/12/2025 07:27

My son has one in his room for bedtime relaxing music, but I keep his door shut the rest of the day because I don’t like that it’s always listening!

ChristmasMantleStatue · 05/12/2025 07:28

Lord I am so glad I don't have an Alexa.

I had a colleague whose Alexa used to come on at 2 in the morning playing the song she played at her late teen son's funeral.

Turned out it was her arsehole ex (not the father of the deceased boy) sneaking around to her house, standing by the kitchen window and giving the Alexa instructions through the window. Imagine the kind of person you have to be to do that.

ThatCyanCat · 05/12/2025 07:32

FavouritePJs · 05/12/2025 00:10

No, and please don’t tell me anymore 🙀

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It's got 7% on Rotten Tomatoes, don't worry about it!

GoodQueenWenceslaus · 05/12/2025 07:32

HideousKinky · 05/12/2025 06:55

My daughter is a computer scientist and her field is AI.
She won't have one in the house.
That's not because she thinks it's haunted but because it's listening to you constantly

Show quote history

How is it listening if it it's switched off?

What does your daughter say it is going to do with what it hears? Can't you just keep it out of the rooms where you might say anything confidential?