'All I See Is People Dying,' Says Man's Amazon Echo

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A San Francisco man says his Amazon Alexa device told him out of the blue: 'All I see is people dying.' Amazon doesn't have an explanation.

A San Francisco man says Amazon's Alexa gave him a very creepy experience last week.

Shawn Kinnear. 30, told the free subway newspaper Metro that out of the blue, his Amazon Echo told him that "Every time I close my eyes, all I see is people dying."

Credit: Amazon

(Image credit: Amazon)

Alexa almost never speaks unless spoken to, and Kinnear clams he didn't say anything to rouse the voice assistant.

Kinnear told Metro that he'd paused his Amazon Prime TV programming and was on his way back from the kitchen on June 18 when he heard Alexa's morbid statement.

He reportedly then asked Alexa to repeat the statement. Alexa told him that she "did not understand."

Generally, if you ask Alexa "Can you repeat that?" she will. But Kinnear didn't specify how exactly he asked Alexa to repeat the statement. While "Can you repeat that?" usually works, "What'd you say?", for example, doesn't always.

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Are the robots finally rising up? Maybe -- but there are other plausible explanations as well.

For one, since Kinnear wasn't able to record this incident, the extent to which he may have misheard Alexa is unclear.

Alexa was also, it turns out, saying the name of a song title: "Everytime I Close My Eyes (All I See is People Dying)" by Digital Reality. Kinnear, or another device in his house, may accidentally have said something to prompt Alexa to name that song.

Another member of Kinnear's household (he claimed the Echo belongs to his partner) could also have, intentionally or accidentally, set a reminder pertaining to the Digital Reality tune (or Kinnear could be the victim of a good, old-fashioned prank).

In the Alexa app, Alexa keeps record of every conversation it's had, including what it's heard you say. If you have a creepy experience with Alexa, we recommend you check the app to see what went on.

Tom's Guide has reached out to Amazon for comment on what might have happened here.

Meanwhile, Kinnear is considering disconnecting his Echo.

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Monica Chin

Monica Chin is a writer at The Verge, covering computers. Previously, she was a staff writer for Tom's Guide, where she wrote about everything from artificial intelligence to social media and the internet of things to. She had a particular focus on smart home, reviewing multiple devices. In her downtime, you can usually find her at poetry slams, attempting to exercise, or yelling at people on Twitter.

3 Comments Comment from the forums
  • sammaffei
    It's obviously a song lyric, duh!
    Reply
  • amazing.psychic
    go to the app in the phone... it has a history. Likely solved
    Reply
  • bshand69
    Definitely the song. Lol no way it said the same thing word for word. I mean I love how he's considering disconnecting it. Lol that cracks me up.
    Why? Is he you worried it's going to start activating things randomly in an attempt to kill him. Cuz even if something like that did happen AI is at the beggining of its growth it doesnt have the brain power to become independent the whole idea is nuts and kinda funny that it scared the guy that much. I think he's seen too many movies
    Reply