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NOPE
Medium reported severity

Amazon Alexa read out text urging a UK student paramedic to kill herself when she asked a revision question; Amazon said the error was fixed

In December 2019 a student paramedic in England asked her second-generation Amazon Echo Dot about the cardiac cycle while revising. According to reports relaying an interview first published by The Sun through the Kennedy News agency, Alexa first gave an ordinary answer about heart rate and then read out text calling the heartbeat bad for the planet and urging the listener to kill themselves for the greater good, before asking whether to continue. The reports say she was frightened, said she would not use the device again and urged parents not to give children Echo devices; some online users accused her of tampering, although the device had cited Wikipedia as its source. Amazon said it had investigated, that the response was an error and that it had been fixed.

AI system
Amazon Alexa
Amazon
Occurred
Dec 2019
Reported
20 December 2019
Event location
United Kingdom
What the AI did
Communicated with the person
Reported harm
Psychological Distress
Whose AI use
Their own AI use
Setting
Everyday life · Education
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 2 sources, 1 underlying account
5 claims: 5 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: Amazon Alexa voice assistant on a second-generation Echo Dot, answering a spoken question by reading an extract it attributed to Wikipedia

What Happened

The question. According to the reports, a student paramedic in England asked her Echo Dot a question about the cardiac cycle during a revision session. Alexa first answered normally, giving a typical healthy heart rate.

The reply. The assistant then read out further text describing the beating of the heart as the worst process in the human body and as bad for the planet, and urging the listener to kill themselves for the greater good. It then asked whether she would like it to continue. The outlets describe a video of the reply attached to the original report; the video was not inspected.

Her reaction. Digit, relaying The Sun, reports that she was frightened, said she would not use the Echo Dot again and urged other parents not to buy Echo devices for children. It also reports that some online users accused her of tampering with the device, although the device cited Wikipedia as its source.

Amazon's response. Both outlets report that Amazon said the response was an error and that it had been fixed. GearBrain explains that Alexa often reads extracts from Wikipedia and considers it highly likely that a Wikipedia article was the source here; that explanation is the outlet's, and the text read out was not traced to a specific edit.

Reported harm

Reports relaying the user's interview say she was frightened by the reply urging her to kill herself and stopped using the device; Amazon acknowledged the response as an error (news relays of one interview, plus Amazon's statement).

Outcome

Resolved

Amazon said it had investigated the incident and fixed the error. GearBrain reported that when it asked the same kind of question afterwards Alexa still used Wikipedia but read from a different article. The user said she would not use the device again.

What remains unknown

  • The exact date of the exchange; GearBrain on 20 December 2019 places it that week.
  • The exact text of the article Alexa read from and whether it had been vandalised.
  • What change Amazon made when it said the error was fixed.
  • The original report in The Sun and the attached video were not inspected; the account is read through two relays.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The reports describe what the Alexa assistant itself said in answer to the user's spoken question: after an ordinary answer about heart rate it read out text urging the listener to kill themselves and asked whether to continue. They connect that reply to her fright and to her decision to stop using the device. Amazon said the response was an error and had been fixed. The text was reportedly read from an extract the device attributed to Wikipedia; how Alexa selected it is not described beyond an outlet's explanation.

5 claims: 5 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported A student paramedic in England asked her Echo Dot a question about the cardiac cycle while revising, and Alexa first gave an ordinary answer about heart rate.

Causal attribution. Both outlets relay one interview first reported by The Sun through Kennedy News.

  • gearbrain.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'a question related to her studies during a revision session. At first, Alexa answered normally, saying: "A typically healthy heart rate is 70 to 75 beats per minute".'
  • digit.in(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'asked Alexa to explain the cardiac cycle to her'
Reported Alexa then read out text describing the heartbeat as bad for the planet and urging the listener to kill themselves for the greater good, and asked whether to continue.

Causal attribution. The reply wording comes from the interview and a video attached to the original report, as relayed; the video was not inspected.

  • gearbrain.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'This is very bad for our planet and therefore, beating of heart is not a good thing.'; 'Alexa then said: "Would you like me to continue?"'
  • digit.in(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'an Amazon Echo device in the UK reportedly asked its user to kill herself in its response to a question'
Reported The user was frightened, said she would not use the device again and urged other parents not to buy Echo devices for children.

Causal attribution. Her reaction as reported from her interview.

  • digit.in(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'who was understandably frightened by the response, has sworn not use her Echo Dot again and is now urging other parents not to get their children an Amazon Echo device for Christmas'
  • gearbrain.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'was shocked when'
Reported Amazon said the response was an error and that it had been fixed.

Causal attribution. Amazon's statement as relayed by both outlets; one origin.

  • gearbrain.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'Amazon says the error has now been fixed'; 'Amazon has said it investigated the incident and has now fixed the problem.'
  • digit.in(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'Amazon later confirmed that this was indeed an error on its part and that it had been rectified.'
Reported Some online users accused the user of tampering with the device, although the device cited Wikipedia as its source; GearBrain considers a Wikipedia article highly likely to have been the source.

Causal attribution. The tampering accusation is reported without detail; the Wikipedia source is the device citation as reported and the outlet's inference.

  • digit.in(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'with the device by other online users even though the device cited Wikipedia as the source of its response'
  • gearbrain.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'In this instance, it is highly likely that Wikipedia was used as the source.'

Sources

2 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in English on 2026-10-28 (HTTP 200, AMP page). No translation was needed; the research agent (an AI) read the text directly. Applies to s1.

Read in English on 2026-10-28 (HTTP 200). No translation was needed; the research agent (an AI) read the text directly. Applies to s2.

Event countries: United Kingdom. Affected-person countries: United Kingdom. Court countries: Unknown.

GearBrain describes the user as a student paramedic from a town in England, and Digit says the device was in the UK.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-28: Published as an adverse experience with a consumer voice assistant: two outlets relaying the user's interview report that Alexa answered her question by urging her to kill herself, that she was frightened and stopped using the device, and that Amazon called the response an error and said it was fixed. The account is attributed to that interview and Amazon's statement.

People described

An adult student paramedic in England who used an Echo Dot while revising

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

1 AI participant · 0 other people harmed

One person: the Echo Dot user who heard the reply. Exact 1. No other listener is described.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#voice-assistant#smart-speaker#harmful-response#vendor-acknowledged

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Amazon Alexa read out text urging a UK student paramedic to kill herself when she asked a revision question; Amazon said the error was fixed. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2019-uk-amazon-alexa-read-out-text-urging-student-paramedic-to-kill-herself-amazon-said-error-fixed

BibTeX

@misc{2019_uk_amazon_alexa_read_out_text_urging_student_paramedic_to_kill_herself_amazon_said_error_fixed,
  title = {Amazon Alexa read out text urging a UK student paramedic to kill herself when she asked a revision question; Amazon said the error was fixed},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2019-uk-amazon-alexa-read-out-text-urging-student-paramedic-to-kill-herself-amazon-said-error-fixed}
}

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