GoKawiil
Tech News
Google has acknowledged a bug causing Nest Doorbell units abroad to unexpectedly revert their voice announcements from local accents to an American one. A Google representative responded in a Reddit thread this week, confirming the company is aware of the issue and working on a resolution, though no fix has shipped yet.
Nest Doorbell owners in France and the UK report that visitor announcements have suddenly switched to a US English accent, even though every other Google Home device in their homes still speaks in their local language and accent. The glitch appears isolated to doorbell announcements within Gemini for Home, which otherwise supports ten languages and multiple accent options. One affected user says support staff suggested temporarily adding US English as a secondary language, then deleting it, as a workaround.
New research indicates that scammers using AI-generated voices that mimic a target's own accent are more effective at deceiving victims than generic synthetic voices. The findings suggest that accent-matching adds a layer of perceived familiarity and trust that makes fraudulent calls more convincing.