Hope is at hand for millions of frustrated smart assistant users across the UK as the BBC announces plans for'Beeb', an AI that will recognise all British regional accents. Videos of Glaswegians, Liverpudlians, Mancunians and others have spread online in recent years, showing their struggles with products like Amazon's Alexa. Many have been forced to adopt a'received pronunciation' way of speaking to be understood. Ironically, this formal accent was once seen as a bastion of style within the BBC's own cadre of presenters. Developers claim the smart assistant will be available next year on the BBC's website, iPlayer and as a software plugin for hardware like Amazon's Echo speaker range.