I read with amusement an article in my weekend paper which said that a new AI assistant at Derby City Council, used to answer phone and website queries, struggles to understand the local accent and dialect.

Apparently if confronted with colloquial words like 'duck', 'Darcie' the robot says 'the message was blocked by our content filter' and then has to have the question rephrased, often numerous times. That's enough to make even the most patient person extremely mardy - another word she can't compute either!

But in good news for the residents of this East Midlands city, after several IT upgrades, this gadget is now 'learning' that 'duck' is a term of endearment, not an aquatic bird, so they will soon be able to make her understand what they're trying to ask her.

The leader of the council was quoted as being impressed that her robot was learning to understand the local turns of phrase, and the article also stated that the council had saved £200k in one year by losing four full-time equivalent agency jobs.

Which then made me wonder where these £50k jobs were still available and how could I apply please? Also, oh for the days when you could actually speak to a human who understood the local words and accents, or could ask a colleague for help if they were unsure about something!

Inevitably perhaps, following on from this line of thinking, I mused how a similar AI assistant would cope if deployed by our very own North Northamptonshire Council?

I then imagined a call which went something like this - a local resident: "Ay-up m'duck, I was chopsin' to Air Ada about the keck growing in the jitty in Ket-rin..."

'Darcie' the AI assistant/robot: "This message has been blocked by our content filter, please try again."

So in order to assist any AI assistants in the North Northamptonshire area, or perhaps a new resident, here's the rough translation of that classic piece of traditional local dialect: "Good-day to you, I was talking to my spouse/close family member/friend Ada about the cow parsley growing in the small alleyway in Kettering..."