Frustrated GP patients hang up as Yorkshire accent baffles AI receptionist

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/aug/20/yorkshire-rotherham-ai-gp-receptionist-cannot-understand-accent

108 points · 23 comments · view on lemmy.world

23 Comments

panda_abyss@lemmy.ca · 28 pts · 12d (1 reply)

I wanted to link to the “voice recognition in a lift in Scotland” video but I can’t find it through all the verticalized reposts and “American reacts to” or “voice recognition FAIL” repost drivel — each more poorly recompressed than the last until they’re indistinguishable from Hank Hill saying he doesn’t know what a jpeg is.

Anchorxiety@reddthat.com · 25 pts · 12d

https://youtu.be/HbDnxzrbxn4

I just watched it a few days ago. Burnistoun.

meejle@piefed.world · 23 pts · 12d (6 replies)

This is maddening. I'd genuinely rather sit in the 40-minute queue to be treated badly by the real-life receptionist. 😤

I know not everyone has the time, but at least give options.

Regrettable_incident@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 12d (2 replies)

This shit might actually be an improvement on my GP. They put you on hold, annoying music and regular messages saying "You are now number . . . 53 . . . in the queue." Then, after an hour, when you're actually number 3 or something, they automatically hang up.

meejle@piefed.world · 5 pts · 12d (1 reply)

The main thing that annoys me about mine is you get "You are currently number... one... in the call queue", and THEN you get "You are at the head of the queue."

Feels misleading. 😅

Regrettable_incident@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 11d

IMO that absolutely is misleading! It's like the fuckers have squeezed another number in somehow. I guess they didn't feel they could use zero lol

giant_smeeg@feddit.uk · 8 pts · 12d (2 replies)

My GP has this system and found a small trick.

Ring up, answer the first question then put the phone down. It then sends you an SMS with a chat bot link to type rather than talk.

Its way faster and less frustrating.

Denjin@feddit.uk · 16 pts · 12d (1 reply)

I can't stand the fact that we suddenly find ourselves living in a world where the text-based AI chatbot is the preferred option now.

giant_smeeg@feddit.uk · 7 pts · 12d

I don't like it. But the alternative currently is drive there...

fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk · 15 pts · 12d (2 replies)

Call me biased, but I think the most stupid thing about this is that it considers Yorkshire speaking as a "regional accent", rather than "the best and most correct way to speak English".

mjr@infosec.pub · 6 pts · 12d

Londonormalisation?

djdarren@piefed.social · 5 pts · 12d

shocked Hampshire face

Abyssian@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 12d (3 replies)

Anyone with an unusual accent and any experience with voice to text could have told them this was a bad plan.

NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone · 6 pts · 11d (2 replies)

Unusual?! There’s more of us than Scots or Irish!

Abyssian@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 11d

I've seen the movies, I know how you bastards made that happen. Delicious cooking and a welcoming embrace for all. Wiley, it is.

DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social · 2 pts · 11d

Largely thanks to the efforts of England.

Hossenfeffer@feddit.uk · 10 pts · 11d

“I could never get it to understand me, I ended up just hanging up and not bothering to try and book an appointment.”

Working as intended.

ohulancutash@feddit.uk · 9 pts · 12d

We didn’t know we were well off with the Indian callcentres.

hellothere@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 12d (3 replies)

Er nerrr, that's attrerrrcious

fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk · 10 pts · 12d (1 reply)

Hahaha, but nah, this was in South Yorkshire, not East Yorkshire. They're dee-dars down there - "Er nerrr" is generally a Hull accent :)

In Hull they would have said "Err nerr, there's a rerbert on me fern curl!" (Oh no, there's a robot on my phone call).

In Rotheram, they'd just sound like either Sean Bean, or Sean Bean with a higher pitched voice.

hellothere@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 10d

Dean Windass approves this message.

UncleArthur@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 12d

Nicking that!

echodot@feddit.uk · 4 pts · 11d

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