Smart speaker is having a party alone

A voice-controlled loudspeaker triggered a police operation due to disturbance of the peace in an apartment building in Lübeck. According to the police on Monday, neighbors complained about loud music from the apartment of a 27-year-old on Sunday night. But he wasn't at home. In the end, according to officials, it turned out that "a jukebox with a voice assistant had its own party".

A patrol car crew drove to the address around 4 a.m. and tried in vain to get someone to open the apartment door by knocking and ringing. The 27-year-old tenant of the apartment was then contacted by telephone. He assured that he was in Hamburg.

A relative of the man finally gave the emergency services access to the apartment with her second key, after which the language assistant was identified as the author. The celebration without guests could then be quickly resolved: the device was simply unplugged. "It remains unknown whether he will invite the neighbors next time and whether the tenant will also be there," the police commented on the unusual operation.

However, it is not the first time that a device that suddenly switches itself on has been used in the north. In Bremerhaven, for example, a very similar case made the headlines in 2021. There, too, a smart loudspeaker became independent and played music so loudly at around 4 a.m. that the neighbors at Holzhafen had no other choice but to call the police.

Again, the resident was not at home when the device suddenly started playing. Firefighters broke open the door and turned off the music player in the bathroom.