A fight, a cry for help, and a very proactive, possibly heroic Amazon Alexa smart home voice assistant.
This, in a nutshell, is the story of an alleged fight over the weekend in New Mexico between Eduardo Barros and his girlfriend and, apparently, a smart speaker, which was connected to the couple's home stereo system. According to authorities, the speaker heard these words, "did you call the sheriffs" and then called the police.
SEE ALSO:Smart speaker calls 911 during domestic dispute, police rescue woman and daughterOn Sunday the Bernalillo County Sheriff Dept. in New Mexico identified the incredibly helpful speaker as a Google Home device, only to recant a few hours later.
While initial reports indicated that the device dialed "911," we now know that's technically impossible.
Google confirmed on Monday to Mashable via email that not only did early reports misidentify the device, but Google Home still doesn't allow calling -- of any kind. "That feature was announced at I/O, but hasn't been launched yet," wrote a spokesperson.
While initial reports indicated that the device dialed "911," we now know that's technically impossible.
Similarly, Amazon confirmed to us via email that its voice assistant Alexa does not support calling 911. When we asked if there are any conditions under which this scenario could have occurred with an Amazon Echo Device, a spokesperson added, "Alexa calling and messaging does not support calling 911, nor is the Alexa calling and messaging service able to connect to third-party calling services to do so."
There's even an Alexa Skills policy that disallows developers from including the ability to call 911 within their skills.
Which means it was, potentially, the "sheriffs" phrase that prompted Alexa's action. Mashabletried the phrase, "did you call the sheriffs" with both an Amazon Echo Show and Google Home. Neither responded. Even when engaged with the proper trigger words, Alexa and Home didn't understand the phrase as something actionable.
Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office deputy and spokesperson Felicia Romero admitted to Mashable on Monday that they're not particularly tech-savvy and are unsure of what device was hooked up to the Amazon Alexa system. They did not take photos of the scene.
Instead, Romero described how Barros allegedly said, "Did you call the sheriffs?" which they believe may have been interpreted as "Call the Sheriffs." "Maybe "Sheriff" is programmed on the phone," offered Deputy Romero. Ultimately, they don't know what the system heard as a prompt.
Amazon did introduce voice-calling features in May that work across all of its Echo devices as well as the Alexa app on iOS and Android. These systems can pull in your smartphone contacts and let you call them directly through an Alexa-enabled device. Even so, you always have to say "Alexa, call [name of contact]" to initiate an Alexa call.
Some of the confusion surrounding this story can be traced back to the original police report, which Bernalillo County Sheriff Dept. provided on Monday. Here's an excerpt:
Barros then asked [the alleged victim] ‘did you call the Sheriff’s”. At this point Alexis [sic] which Affiant knows to be a Google Smart Radio, heard “call Sheriff’s”. Alexis the radio then called 911. This is when 911 was notified and deputies responded.
As for the stereo system, the spokesperson explained that Alexa is connected to it and it's spread throughout the home so Barros can answer a phone call from any room in the house. Typically, Amazon's original Echo devices, which include a speaker (as does Google Home), are stand-alone devices. The cheaper, smaller Echo Dot, which includes a microphone listening array, but only a tiny speaker, is often hooked up to a user's stereo system. However, the Sheriff's Dept. offered no insight on which Alexa-supporting device Barros owns.
What they did tell us, though, is that, just prior to the argument, the couple was using an Amazon system to watch a movie.
Even with these new details, questions remain. Virtually all smart assistants, including smart home speakers like Amazon Echo and Google Home, listen only for their trigger words -- "Alexa" and "Okay, Google" ("Hey, Siri" for Apple's Siri) -- before listening for general commands and acting. It's unclear what words, if any preceded the "sheriff" comment.
Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office can confirm the existence of a call because, Deputy Romero told us, the line was left open and, in addition to the fighting the victim can be overheard in the background saying, "Alexa, call 911," seemingly unaware that a call had already been made and that calling 911 isn't enabled on Amazon Echo devices.
We may never know exactly how (or if) Alexa made that call, but one thing is clear, the digital act may have saved someone's life.
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