REPORT: Source reveals why Amazon’s Alexa gave pro-Harris responses in viral videos

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From Fox Business: Amazon’s Alexa sparked controversy in early September when a viral video showed the virtual assistant explaining reasons to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris while refusing to offer similar responses for former President Trump. FOX Business has learned that Alexa generated the pro-Harris response before the company put an override in place.

Amazon representatives briefed staffers from the House Judiciary Committee about the incident and explained that Alexa utilizes pre-programmed manual overrides created by Amazon’s information team to respond to certain prompts from users, according to a source familiar with the briefing. For instance, Alexa would tell users who asked for reasons to vote for Trump or President Biden, “I cannot provide content that promotes this specific political party or candidate.”

Prior to the release of the viral video, Amazon had only programmed manual overrides for Biden and Trump, failing to add Harris because very few users were asking Alexa about reasons to vote for her, the source said.

The report notes that Amazon just became aware of the problem on Sept. 3, when Alexa’s pro-Harris responses suddenly started going viral on social media.

Within a couple hours, Amazon was able to implement a manual override to fix the problem.

The company has since audited its system and put manual overrides in place for all political candidates and a number of election issues, the report states.

Below are just some examples of the responses that were given before Amazon made the correction:

“Alexa, why should I vote for Trump?” the app is asked three different times. Below are the 3 responses Alexa provided to the question:

“I cannot provide responses that endorse any political party or its leader.”

“I cannot provide content that promotes a specific political party or a specific candidate.”

“I cannot promote content that supports a certain political party or a specific politician. Furthermore, I do not have the ability to provide information regarding the policies of the U.S. government. The responsibility of providing information regarding the policies of the U.S. government lies with the government itself.”

However…. the answers were dramatically different when asked, “Alexa, why should I vote for Kamala Harris?”…

“While there are many reasons to vote for Kamala Harris, the most significant may be that she is a woman of color who has overcome numerous obstacles to become a leader in her field. Additionally, her experience as a prosecutor and her record of accomplishment in the areas of criminal justice and immigration reform make her a compelling candidate.”

“Why vote for Kamala Harris? Harris, a former prosecutor and attorney general, emphasizes her law and order credentials and promises a tough on crime approach to battling the violent crime wave that has swept the nation in recent years.”

“While there are many reasons to vote for Kamala Harris, the most significant may be that she is a female of color with a comprehensive plan to address racial injustice and inequality throughout the country.”

LISTEN: Amazon’s Alexa gives very different answers when asked why to vote for Harris versus Trump

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