Pet Parrot Mimics Owner to Order Gift Boxes Using Amazon's Alexa
A pet parrot was able to place an online order, with a little help from Amazon's digital assistant. The African grey mimicked his owner's voice and ended up getting a set of gift boxes getting delivered to their home.
His owner, Corinne Pretorius, was very puzzled when her husband, Jan, a civil engineer, denied placing an order for about $14 worth of decorative gift boxes. Their son, 8-year-old Jaden, was ruled out as well, according to the Daily Sun on Tuesday, Sep. 19.
At that point, she realized that it could be Buddy, her pet parrot, who ordered the set of golden gift boxes. An earlier conversation between the African grey and Alexa gave her the hint, as the 39-year old shared on Instagram last weekend.
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The family had an Amazon Echo unit on a table near where Buddy would usually sit in his cage. "We've had the device for four months and I use it to play music or make 'to do' lists but I've never ordered anything online," Pretorius said.
She recalled a conversation she overheard between the bird and the artificial intelligence. "Returning home I could hear Buddy talking... 'Alexa,'" she recalled, adding that she could not understand what the parrot said next.
Neither would Alexa, it turned out, as the assistant apologized. "Sorry I didn't get that," the device replied.
Buddy would try one more time, calling out Alexa again while saying something that his owner could not quite catch at the time. Alexa had little trouble the next time, as the AI followed up with, "What is it you want to order?"
One hour later, the surprised owner was notified on her mac that "her" Amazon order has been placed.
What arrived was a set of what was described on Amazon as "6 Best Decorative Gift Boxes Set with Lids," presumably by Italian designer Giovanni Grazielly, in gold.
Amazon did confirm, through a representative, that orders for physical items, if placed with Alexa, can be returned for free. Pretorious is looking to use them on the next custom cakes they make, instead.
