Amazon documentary makes viewers’ Alexas add knives to shopping carts

Viewers’ home devices activated and followed instructions heard on the documentary, it was claimed

A documentary about e-commerce giant Amazon caused viewers’ Alexa voice assistants to add knives to their shopping baskets, it has been claimed.

Channel 4 documentary The Great Amazon Heist featured a scene of filmmaker Oobah Butler’s nieces ordering knives through their Alexa voice assistant.

But viewers were left stunned when their own home devices activated and followed their instructions. “My Amazon basket currently contains a stainless steel carpentry knife,” one viewer claimed.

The filmmaker also went undercover at an Amazon distribution centre in Coventry, West Midlands, speaking to workers who complained of constant back pain and dangerous working conditions. This is something Amazon denies.

Among other pranks, Mr Butler also managed to successfully market bottles of urine belonging to Amazon delivery drivers as an energy drink on the website.

“Releasing the drink was surprisingly easy,” he told WIRED. “I thought that the food and drinks licensing would stop me from listing it, so I started it out in this Refillable Pump Dispenser category. Then the algorithm moved it into drinks.”

An Amazon Alexa assistant (PA Wire)

In 2017, a six-year-old girl asked her parents’ voice assistant: “Alexa, can you play dollhouse with me and get me a dollhouse?”

In response, the technology reportedly ordered a £140 KidKraft doll’s house. When it was reported on the radio, several listeners claimed their own devices heard the child’s question and ordered the same.

Amazon has said any “accidental” purchases can be returned for free. The company was approached for comment on claims about Alexa ordering knives.