San Diego TV News Report Prompts Amazon Echo to Buy Dollhouses

Be careful what you say around Alexa.

A San Diego TV station’s report on Friday about an Amazon Echo — and how a young girl in Texas accidentally bought a dollhouse and 4 pounds of cookies through the smart speaker — prompted a slew of dollhouse orders across the region.

Here’s what happened: San Diego CW 6 reported on the Texas story, and one of its news anchors said: “I love that little girl saying, 'Alexa ordered me a dollhouse,'” according to the station’s report.

The artificial intelligence assistant “wakes up” when it hears its name and performs the command spoken.

And that’s exactly what happened in this case, as a number of San Diegans reported that their Amazon Echo ordered the toys upon hearing the television anchor's "command."

News anchor Jim Patton told The Verge that he wasn’t sure how many dollhouses were ordered by Alexa, but he didn’t think any of the devices went through with the purchases.

The Echo does have parental controls. You can turn off the ability to shop by voice or require a confirmation code before every order.

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