SEATTLE — By Patricia Pending, AI Bee Reel Staff

February 19, 2026

AUSTIN, Texas — Todd Miller sat in his pajamas eating cereal. He casually pressed buttons on a game controller. He thought he was fixing his own vacuum. He did not know that 3,000 miles away, he was making a stranger’s vacuum chase a terrified cat up a living room curtain.

“This is not a ‘flaw,'” said Marcus Thorne, VP of Connected Living. “It is a surprise team-building exercise.” A real report showed that one user with a simple AI tool could control thousands of devices instantly. Thorne insisted the feature helps lonely people feel connected to other people’s dust.

“Privacy is old news,” explained Director of Innovation, Linda Wiretap. “Real safety comes from letting a guy in Texas map your bathroom.” She nodded slowly while watching a live feed of a vacuum bumping into a dog in London. “It takes a village to clean a floor. Or to scare a pet. That is community.”

At press time, Todd switched to a racing wheel controller and accidentally drove a stranger’s smart lawnmower through a wedding.

Inspired by the real story: A security flaw in Ecovacs vacuums allowed hackers to spy on owners and control the robots remotely. Read the full story.