AMAZON Alexa stopped working on Friday morning, leaving thousands of Brits unable to turn on their lights or switch off alarms at home.
Problems with the virtual assistant, which powers millions of gadgets across the country, began around 7:00 a.m. GMT, according to online outage trackers.
? Read our Alexa down live blog for the latest updates
Roughly four hours later, Amazon announced that services were once again operating normally.
More than 8,000 people logged issues with Alexa on DownDetector, a website that monitors the status of online platforms.
According to user reports, Alexa was not responding to voice commands. Those trying to wake their Amazon Echo speakers were met with a red warning light.
The gadgets show a solid red ring around their exterior when the microphone has been turned off or there is a fault with the device.
Videos on social media showed Alexa gadgets announcing: “Sorry, this device lost its connection.”
On Twitter, users claimed that they were unable to shut off their morning alarms or switch on their smart lights as a result of the outage.
As well as the UK, Alexa was down across parts of Europe and India. Users in the United States were unaffected by the outage.
An Amazon spokesperson said: “This morning we had an issue that impacted some Alexa customers’ ability to interact with the service.
“The Alexa service is now operating normally.”
It’s unclear what caused the problem with the virtual helper, which is powered by Amazon’s artificial intelligence technology.
Users took to social media to vent their frustrations at the unexpected downtime.
One person tweeted: “alexa is down and won’t turn our alarm off.”
Another said: “Alexa didn’t even say bye.. Suppose will have to turn my own lights on.”
And a third wrote: “Alexa is down. Not responding to voice commands. Seems to be pretty widespread across Europe.”
Alexa, a voice-activated assistant powered by artificial intelligence, was introduced in 2014 with the release of the first Amazon Echo speaker.
The virtual companion is loaded into millions of devices across the UK including speakers, smart TVs, earphones and more.
Like rival services built by Google and Apple, Alexa responds to voice commands and speaks back to users.
The assistant can perform thousands of tasks, including setting timers, controlling smart devices around the home, and telling you about the weather.
In other news, personalised smart guns, which can be fired only by verified users, may finally become available to U.S. consumers this year.
Scientists are embarking on a mission to unravel the mystery behind dozens of grisly child mummies buried in an underground tomb in Sicily.
Police have caught an Italian mafia henchman who’d be on the run for 20 years after spotting the fugitive on Google Maps.
And, one of the best-preserved fossils ever found has confirmed that young dinosaurs burst from their shells just like baby birds.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online Tech & Science team? Email us at [email protected]
This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk