Amazon’s voice assistant Alexa has been accused of Sexism. Reason: It was unable to reply to a question about the Lionesses’ semi-final victory during the Women’s World Cup.
According to a report in BBC, when asked for the result of the England-Australia football match, Alexa said that there was no match.
Academic Joanne Rodda, a senior lecturer in psychiatry at Kent and Medway Medical School, told the publication that when I asked Alexa about the women’s England-Australia football match on Wednesday (August 16), it gave me the result that there was no match today.
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Dr Rodda further said that she found similar problems with the Women’s Super League. “Out of interest, I just asked Alexa who the Arsenal football team are playing in October,” she said. “It replied with information about the men’s team, and wasn’t able to give an answer when I asked specifically about women’s fixtures.
The BBC was reportedly able to replicate what Rodda had found on Alexa.
Amazon’s response to Alexa’s answer
Responding to the controversy, Amazon spokesperson was quoted as saying that this was an error that has been fixed. Amazon added that when a customer asks Alexa a question, information is pulled from a variety of sources, including Amazon, licensed content providers, and websites.
The company further said that it had automated systems which use AI to understand the context and pull out the most relevant information, but the systems got it wrong in this case.
Amazon said it expected the systems to get better over time, adding that it has teams dedicated to help prevent similar situations in the future.
For those wondering the result of the England-Australia football match: The Lionesses beat Australia 3-1.