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There's an Eagles fan living inside of Amazon's Echo

Liz Roscher
Staff writer

The digital assistants that are in our lives these days, like Siri, Cortana and Alexa, are usually supposed to give us facts when we ask questions. How many tablespoons are in a cup? What time is “Jeopardy!” on? Is there any traffic on my way to work? Those are easily answerable questions.

When you ask about a future event, like the Super Bowl, most digital assistants try to stick to the facts. Thomas Ricker of The Verge asked several digital assistants this important question, and the answers were, on the whole, boring.

Ask Siri who’ll win Super Bowl LII and it’ll tell you that the New England Patriots are favored by exactly 4.5 points over the Philadelphia Eagles. Ask Cortana and Google Assistant and they’ll hedge like a weathered politician, refusing to take sides and responding instead with the game’s start time (Cortana) or the importance of being a good sport (Google).

It’s what everyone’s been hearing and reading for nearly two weeks now: the New England Patriots are favored to win.

Amazon’s Alexa lives inside the Echo, and we suspect she could be an Eagles fan. (Amazon.com)
Amazon’s Alexa lives inside the Echo, and we suspect she could be an Eagles fan. (Amazon.com)

But Alexa, Amazon’s digital assistant, isn’t like all the others. Buzzfeed’s Alex Kantrowitz asked Alexa about the outcome of the Super Bowl, and the answer was unexpected to say the least.

Is there a small Philadelphia Eagles fan living in there with Alexa? Because it sure sounds like there is. She couldn’t get the factual assessment out without choking on the words, and then said that she’s “flying with the Eagles on this one, because of their relentless defense, and the momentum they’ve been riding off their underdog status.” She even ended it with the “E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES” chant!

Even Alexa, the non-human digital assistant that sits on your desk or countertop and will have a star commercial on Sunday (see below), has a rooting interest in the Super Bowl.

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Liz Roscher is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher