A TEENAGER claims his parents’ £230 voice-activated rubbish bin is racist against Geordies.
A hilarious video shows Oscar Symington struggling to get the bin to obey his voice command.
The 18-year-old from barber Newcastle only gets a result when he mimics an American accent.
He then mutters: “Racist.”
Oscar posted the footage to social media yesterday (thu) with the caption : “Been bumped to bits.”
The device in question is a simplehuman voice-activated fingerprint-proof bin, which is sold by John Lewis for £230.
The bin opens automatically in response to the phrase “open can”.
Oscar says to the camera: “Right, so me mam and dad just bought a bin for the house and it’s supposed to be voice activated.”
He begins in his normal accent, repeating the phrase: “Open can.”
The lid remains firmly shut. Oscar tries again and gets no response.
Oscar changes tactic and adds: “But if you do it in an American accent.”
He then drawls “Open can” and the lid pings open immediately.
Oscar groans before grumbling: “Racist.”
Natalie Stanger commented: “Cannot stop laughing.”
Scott Hall added: “Hahahah class”.
William F Dame said: “That’s awesome.”
And Gareth Sewell joked: “What language were you originally talking in?”
Speaking today, Oscar said: “I just came home to it. I thought it was broken when I was talking to it.
“It was a good couple minutes I had to try with posh accents, but it still wasn’t working.
“I’ve not got a clue what made me think of it, but thought because I’m Geordie, I thought it might just be the accent.
“I don’t think I’ve got that much of an accent though.”
According to The Life Science Centre museum in Newcastle upon Tyne, 79% of AI users claim to drop their regional accent in order to be understood by their virtual assistants.
In 2011, hundreds of Scots reported that their iPhone struggled to understand them when Apple first launched its Siri app.
Similar complaints have come from Irish AI users, with Donegal natives having the most difficulty being understood according to research from Pure Telecom.
