Alexa DOWN: Amazon smart assistant stops working for thousands of users
AMAZON Alexa stopped working on Friday morning, leaving thousands of Brits unable to turn on their lights or switch off alarms at home.
Problems with the virtual assistant, which powers millions of gadgets across the country, began around 7:00 a.m. GMT, according to online outage trackers.
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Roughly four hours later, Amazon announced that services were once again operating normally.
More than 8,000 people logged issues with Alexa on DownDetector, a website that monitors the status of online platforms.
According to user reports, Alexa was not responding to voice commands. Those trying to wake their Amazon Echo speakers were met with a red warning light.
The gadgets show a solid red ring around their exterior when the microphone has been turned off or there is a fault with the device.
Videos on social media showed Alexa gadgets announcing: "Sorry, this device lost its connection."
On Twitter, users claimed that they were unable to shut off their morning alarms or switch on their smart lights as a result of the outage.
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As well as the UK, Alexa was down across parts of Europe and India. Users in the United States were unaffected by the outage.
An Amazon spokesperson said: āThis morning we had an issue that impacted some Alexa customersā ability to interact with the service.
"The Alexa service is now operating normally."
It's unclear what caused the problem with the virtual helper, which is powered by Amazon's artificial intelligence technology.
Users took to social media to vent their frustrations at the unexpected downtime.
One person tweeted: "alexa is down and won't turn our alarm off."
Another said: "Alexa didn't even say bye.. Suppose will have to turn my own lights on."
And a third wrote: "Alexa is down. Not responding to voice commands. Seems to be pretty widespread across Europe."
Alexa, a voice-activated assistant powered by artificial intelligence, was introducedĀ in 2014 with the release of the first Amazon EchoĀ speaker.
The virtual companion is loaded into millions of devices across the UK including speakers, smart TVs, earphones and more.
Like rival services built by Google and Apple, Alexa responds to voice commands and speaks back to users.
The assistant can perform thousands of tasks, including setting timers, controlling smart devices around the home, and telling you about the weather.
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