I spend a significant amount of my day — perhaps an unhealthy allotment of time — on social media, so when I saw a flurry of tweets Wednesday claiming Amazon’s Alexa had a favorite political pundit, I had to interview the source: My own Amazon Echo.
Doing what any good journalist would do, I asked my source a series of pointed questions and recorded her answers. As it turns out, Alexa is pretty dispassionate about most public figures — save Amazon founder Jeff Bezos — but seems to have a particular affinity for conservative writer and commentator Ben Shapiro.
I asked Alexa for her opinion on Fox News host Sean Hannity, MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow, and CNN darling Jake Tapper (Who doesn’t like Jake Tapper?), and to each question she replied, “I don’t have an opinion on that.”
Then I asked her if she likes Shapiro.
“Yes,” the digital voice gleefully replied. “Ben Shapiro is one of my favorite conservative pundits.”
https://twitter.com/tregp/status/1024717968478035968
But she played coy when I asked her if she identifies more as a Republican or a Democrat, sidestepping the issue altogether and instead briefly explaining her platform on space exploration, which consequently might be of interest to President Donald Trump, who last month announced plans to establish a new branch of the U.S. military, which he dubbed the “Space Force.”
“When it comes to politics, I like to think big,” Alexa told me. “We should be funding deep-space exploration. I’d love to be answering questions from Mars.”
Then, of course, since I’m an editor for this faith-based publication and am most interested in stories about faith and culture, I had to ask Alexa for her opinion on Jesus Christ. Much to my chagrin, her opinion on the Son of God matched her thoughts on Tapper, Hannity, and Maddow.
I reached out to Amazon’s press office and will update this story if a representative responds.