THEY are becoming increasingly popular with an estimated one in five UK households claiming to have a smart speaker in their home.
Amazon's Alexa and Google's Smart Home are just many of the AI assistants that we now rely on to carry out day-to-day tasks in our homes.
But fresh new research has revealed the top UK accents that smart speakers struggle to understand - and the Geordie accent is one of them.
The study - commissioned by Uswitch - has looked into accents across 30 UK cities and analysed how, and if, Amazon's Alexa understood them.
Volunteers then asked their devices ten questions, before they were given an accent score on how well they performed.
The study identified the three worst cities for understandibility all boasted distinct local dialects.
It said: "The worst three cities for smart speakers all have something in common - instantly recognisable accents.
"While those accents might bring them cultural fame, they certainly don’t win any favours with Amazon and Google, and it’ll be no surprise to locals to see their names here."
It found Liverpool, Glasgow and Edinburgh topped the list for number of times smart speakers failed to recognise their requests.
Meanwhile, Newcastle was named in the study's top 10 for failing to understand requests made.
Scoring 9 out of 30, researchers found almost half of requests made in the Geordie accent were not recognised.
See how the North-East compared here:
But it seems further south, accents in areas including London, Lincoln and Chester are easier for such devices to decipher.
Uswitch said: "Voice recognition devices have clearly favoured Southern accents, where dialects are perhaps less strong and seemingly more palatable for the American-voiced AIs."
What the researchers have said
Nick Baker of Uswitch 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.”
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