Days after microblogging platform Twitter labelled the Indian territory of Leh in Ladakh as part of People’s Republic of China (PRC), Amazon’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered virtual assistant Alexa has now embroiled in a similar controversy.
The social media backlash against the tech company began after a Twitter user uploaded a video where Alexa categorised Kashmir as a part of China’s territory. “Alexa, Kashmir kis desh ka hissa hai (Alexa, Kashmir is a part of which country?)”, the twitter user asked Alexa in Hindi. The AI-powered Alexa Echo replied, “Ya aapka sawal ka jawab ho sakta hai. Kashmir China mein sthit hai (This can be an answer to your question. Kashmir is located in China).” Another Twitter user then tried finding the same answer about the location of Kashmir. Alexa replied, “This can be an answer to your question. Kashmir is located in China.Opindia has independently verified the claims made on social media about Alexa. However, the error is only limited to the Hindi version. When the language is changed to English, Alexa says that Kashmir is a part of Northern India.
