An Amazon Alexa error is sparking conspiracy theories about Hurricane Milton on TikTok (www.mediamatters.org)

submitted 6 days ago by Stopthatgirl7@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

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TikTok users are asking Amazon’s Alexa unanswerable questions about the outcome of rapidly strengthening Hurricane Milton, which is forecast to make landfall in Florida on Wednesday. Unfortunately, Alexa is providing users with inaccurate answers, sparking panic and conspiracy theories that have already garnered over a million views on TikTok.

Users are asking variations of the same question: “Alexa, what kind of hurricane was Hurricane Milton?”

“From fandom.com: Hurricane Milton was an extremely powerful Category 5 hurricane that caused widespread damage across its path in October 2024,” respondedAlexa in multiple videos. (Although Media Matters couldn’t replicate the response, Alexa did tell us the death toll and monetary damages of a hurricane that has not yet made landfall when we asked if there were any fatalities from Hurricane Milton).

Alexa’s response cites fandom.com, a fan-generatedentertainment and gaming platform. Within fandom is the Hypothetical Hurricanes Wiki, a “wiki-based comprehensive database of hypothetical tropical cyclone articles that anyone can edit.”

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[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 27 points 6 days ago

So fucking stupid they think it's more likely a secret government conspiracy that controls the weather than that it's AI and AI is shit...

Users are asking variations of the same question: “Alexa, what kind of hurricane was Hurricane Milton?”

"From fandom.com: Hurricane Milton was an extremely powerful Category 5 hurricane that caused widespread damage across its path in October 2024,” responded Alexa in multiple videos. (Although Media Matters couldn’t replicate the response, Alexa did tell us the death toll and monetary damages of a hurricane that has not yet made landfall when we asked if there were any fatalities from Hurricane Milton).

Alexa’s response cites fandom.com, a fan-generated entertainment and gaming platform. Within fandom is the Hypothetical Hurricanes Wiki, a “wiki-based comprehensive database of hypothetical tropical cyclone articles that anyone can edit.”

And the government conspiracy is run off fucking fandom.com and accessible by anyone?

[-] catloaf@lemm.ee 13 points 6 days ago

Nobody ever accused conspiracy theorists of critical thinking.

[-] Digital_man@lemmy.one 5 points 6 days ago

Truth.

Occam’s razor means nothing to these sheeple.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 4 points 5 days ago

You're living in a world where a large number of American voters believe that 8chan was a legitimate source of secret government leaks.

[-] leisesprecher@feddit.org 1 points 5 days ago

If you read the line above that quote: a million views. That's nothing.

Essentially, a few guys make fun of Alexa, five people take it seriously, three of them are journalists desperately trying to find relevant content.

Every time you read about a "new trend" or "a new challenge" or whatever, you can assume some journalist found three tweets from three 14 year olds all from the same school.

[-] Chozo@fedia.io 23 points 6 days ago

Yet another case of Fandom causing problems for search engines. This happened recently where Fandom's SEO abuse was causing Google to claim a sequel to Bugsnax was in development, which is not true.

Fandom needs to be shut down. They're making the internet worse.

[-] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 1 points 5 days ago

It doesn’t need to be shut down but not indexing it would solve your problems

[-] desktop_user@lemmy.blahaj.zone -3 points 6 days ago

fandom is finally causing good things to happen (spreading misinformation to idiots that use Alexa), it should never absorbed gamepedia but now it is actually being useful.

[-] AlligatorBlizzard@sh.itjust.works 7 points 5 days ago

You know Milton is going to kill people, right?

[-] desktop_user@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 5 days ago

yes

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago

And you think that people dying is worth it to show that Alexa spreads misinformation?

[-] desktop_user@lemmy.blahaj.zone -1 points 5 days ago

I think people trusting Alexa for information regarding a hurricane probably deserved it.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago

Who else in your estimation deserves to die? Should we just set up camps to take care of it quickly and stop them from being a drag on the economy?

[-] desktop_user@lemmy.blahaj.zone -1 points 5 days ago

let's start with the politicians who voted against bills that would reduce carbon emissions.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 4 points 5 days ago

So we should put people who trust Alexa for hurricane information and certain politicians in death camps. I see.

[-] Samvega@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I think people trusting Alexa for information regarding a hurricane probably deserved it.

I think you are probably not worth listening to or talking to, especially after a quick check of your recent comments.

The word 'deserve' is a human concept invented purely to assert a false sense of control over a universe which has no interest in you.

[-] desktop_user@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 5 days ago

I am assuming the government issued a severe weather alert and that just about everyone with an Alexa has a phone. the overlap of people that will find the setting to turn off severe weather alerts on their phones and trust Alexa is probably small, especially if Alexa says the source of fandom.com

[-] BetaDoggo_@lemmy.world 12 points 5 days ago

Every credible wiki has moved away from fandom at this point. All that's left is the abandoned shells of the former wikis they refuse to delete and kids who don't know better.

[-] SpikesOtherDog@ani.social 3 points 6 days ago

Wow, can someone start a fandom that insists counter conspiracies?

this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2024

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