AI receptionist at GPs ‘can’t understand’ Yorkshire accents

Patients in Yorkshire are struggling to use an artificial intelligence (AI) GP receptionist because it cannot understand their accents, a health watchdog has said. In some surgeries, the triaging of patients is done using a AI system called EMMA, designed to cut waiting times on the phone.However, Healthwatch Rotherham said some “broad Yorkshire accents” cannot always be understood by the technology. QuantumLoopAI, the company behind EMMA, said its design allowed it to understand many different dialects, but patients can also speak to a human at any time if they so wish. Healthwatch Rotheram manager Kym Gleeson told the BBC: "One of the issues is this system can't always understand what people's inquiry is about due to their broad Yorkshire accent."Across South Yorkshire, accents do vary q