A version of Alexa won’t tell kids where babies come from or spill the beans about Santa. It also won’t explain some things kids might have heard on the news – like what Stormy Daniels does for a living.
Amazon updated its voice assistant with a feature that can make Alexa more kid-friendly. When the FreeTime feature is activated, Alexa answers certain questions differently. Asked where babies come from, for example, the kid version tells youngsters to ask a grown-up.
Amazon says it worked with child psychologists for some of Alexa’s answers, and that the voice assistant is “always getting smarter” with updated answers.
Groups including the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood have warned parents that the kid-friendly voice assistant puts children’s privacy at risk and limits interactions with people.