Alexa told 10-year-old to put penny in a plug socket

An Amazon Alexa unit "challenged" a 10-year-old girl to put a plug halfway into a socket and attempt to touch the prongs with a coin.

The suggestion came after the child asked the virtual assistant for a "challenge to do".

"Plug in a phone charger about halfway into a wall outlet, then touch a penny to the exposed prongs," the smart speaker said.

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Amazon stated that it corrected the problem as soon as it was made aware of it.

The girl's mother, Kristin Livdahl, claimed it happened after the family in the United States asked the Echo smart speaker for physical activities to undertake because the weather was bad outdoors.

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She posted a snapshot of the response from the activity log.

She said: "We were doing some physical challenges, like laying down and rolling over holding a shoe on your foot, from a [physical education] teacher on YouTube earlier. Bad weather outside. She just wanted another one."

Responding to her tweet, Amazon said: "Hi there. We're sorry to hear this! ".

A statement to the BBC said: "Customer trust is at the centre of everything we do and Alexa is designed to provide accurate, relevant, and helpful information to customers.

"As soon as we became aware of this error, we took swift action to fix it."

Around a year ago, the deadly game known as "the penny challenge" started circulating on TikTok and other social media platforms.

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Inserting metals into live electrical sockets can result in electric shocks, fires, and other complications.

This has also sparked debate on social media about having artificial intelligence in the home.

It also got people talking about how the structure of plug sockets should be better equipped to prevent harm, such as the plugs available in the UK.

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Aneesa Ahmed is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow her on Twitter