An Echo voice assistant challenge a 10-year-old to do  a potentially fatal act 

Assistant told a child to do the 'Penny challenge' and 'Plug in a phone charger about halfway into a wall outlet, then touch a penny to the exposed prongs' 

Kristin Livdahl, the girl's mother slammed Amazon, who has since apologised

Amazon has apologised after an Echo voice assistant challenged a 10-year-old girl to touch a coin to the prongs of a half-inserted plug - an act that could be fatal.

Kristin Livdahl,  from the US, has told how her daughter asked Alexa for a challenge on Sunday - to which the voice assistant responded: 'Plug in a phone charger about halfway into a wall outlet, then touch a penny to the exposed prongs'.  

'OMFG My 10 year old just asked Alexa on our Echo for a challenge and this is what she said,' she wrote on Twitter alongside a screenshot from the Alexa app.    

Amazon has since updated its voice assistant to prevent it from happening again, and said they fixed the issue as soon as they were made aware of it.