If you've spent plenty of time shouting aimlessly at your Alexa, well, you're not alone. It turns out that it's not you, it's them.
According to comparison website USwitch, AI home devices like Alexa have a really, really hard time with anyone who has a regional accent. And for Irish people, in particular, the struggle is real.
Across the board, Alexa can't deal with the patchwork of regional accents found across the UK and Ireland, and from our side of the water, Belfast folks have it the absolute worst, coming in as the fifth most difficult for it to understand.
They're gluttons for punishment up there, however: they topped the Irish list for searches for "Why doesn't my smart speaker understand me?", but also placed highly for "Google Assistant to buy", indicating that they still want to get their hands on the gadget that doesn't get them.
Dubs don't fare much better: they're ranked 11th worst out of 30 for understandability. That's despite having the third most smart speakers in total in the list, behind only London and Nottingham.
Unsurprisingly, given the way of the world, London and the south of England are the ones most catered for. London has the highest level of recognition, followed by Lincoln and Cambridge.
The best performing non-Southern place was Chester, which as anyone who has been there/seen Hollyoaks can tell you, is posh North.
It's not just us Irish who get the deaf ear. Cardiff was the absolute worst place for Alexa recognition, followed by Glasgow. Liverpool and Birmingham also fared pretty terribly.
Nick Baker, uSwitch's broadband expert, said: "Smart speakers are becoming an integral part of many modern-day homes. While most of us find them useful it's clear that more needs to be done to make voice recognition features smoother."
"The use of artificial intelligence in products is only going to increase, and as it grows in popularity it's important that features are accessible to all. The more we use virtual assistants the better they will get at understanding us. Some brands are already taking steps to allow assistants to learn about our accents which should avoid alienating customers and improve user experience."
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Ireland