Seattle crosswalk buttons hacked to sound like Jeff Bezos, who tells pedestrians, ‘don’t tax the rich’

Don’t cross Jeff Bezos on taxes, cross with Jeff Bezos. An AI-enabled version of the Amazon founder’s voice has apparently been hacked into audio-enhanced crosswalk buttons in Seattle, following a recent trend that targeted other tech leaders in Silicon Valley. In videos on Reddit on Wednesday, fake (but very real-sounding) Bezos can be heard delivering a message to pedestrians who engage crosswalk buttons in the University District and South Lake Union. “Hi, I’m Jeff Bezos,” the voice says. “This crosswalk is sponsored by Amazon Prime, with an important message — please, don’t tax the rich, otherwise all the other billionaires… Read More

Apr 16, 2025 - 20:18

An audio-enabled crosswalk button in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood that’s been altered to sound like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is speaking. (GeekWire Photo / Taylor Soper)

Don’t cross Jeff Bezos on taxes, cross with Jeff Bezos.

An AI-enabled version of the Amazon founder’s voice has apparently been hacked into audio-enhanced crosswalk buttons in Seattle, following a recent trend that targeted other tech leaders in Silicon Valley.

In videos on Reddit on Wednesday, fake (but very real-sounding) Bezos can be heard delivering a message to pedestrians who engage crosswalk buttons in the University District and South Lake Union.

“Hi, I’m Jeff Bezos,” the voice says. “This crosswalk is sponsored by Amazon Prime, with an important message — please, don’t tax the rich, otherwise all the other billionaires will move to Florida, too. Wouldn’t it be terrible if all the rich people left Seattle or got Luigi’d? And then normal people could afford to live here again.”

GeekWire tracked down buttons playing the audio at Fairview Avenue North and Denny Way, in the heart of the South Lake Union neighborhood where Amazon’s headquarters campus is located. Watch below:

Bezos left Seattle for South Florida in 2023, raising questions at the time about whether Washington state’s capital gains tax was partly to blame. The Luigi reference is to Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City in December.

The audio also includes a snippet of the viral Bezos song by musician Bo Burnham.

TechCrunch reported on crosswalk buttons in Silicon Valley being hacked last weekend to include audio from voices that sound like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

“It’s normal to feel uncomfortable or even violated as we forcefully insert AI into every facet of your conscious experience,” said the Zuckerberg-sounding button. “I just want to assure you, you don’t need to worry because there’s absolutely nothing you can do to stop it.”

“I guess they say money can’t buy happiness … I guess that’s true. God knows I’ve tried. But it can buy a Cybertruck and that’s pretty sick, right?” said the Musk-like button. “Fuck, I’m so alone.”

Workers with the Seattle Department of Transportation, right, repair a crosswalk button as people cross at 15th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 43rd Street in the University District on Wednesday. (GeekWire Photo / Taylor Soper)

It’s unknown who is behind the stunt or how hackers may have infiltrated the technology that controls the devices, which usually emit audio commands for pedestrians such as “Wait” or “Walk sign is on.” But a comment on Reddit included a link to a YouTube video in which the host — while not encouraging such “hacktivism” — shows how it might be done.

The effort goes a step beyond the usual graffiti and stickers around Seattle that target Bezos and Amazon and tech culture in a variety of ways.

GeekWire reached out to the Seattle Department of Transportation and Seattle Public Utilities for comment on the Bezos crosswalk buttons, and what if anything is being done to return them to normal audio. We’ll update when we hear back.