Listening, Again

How is it that Alexa, Siri et al. can determine what someone is saying from across the house through a tiny, almost microscopic pinhole, but you have to repeat yourself while sitting right beside the microphone at a drive through?  Google and Facebook have algorithms to determine what items you'll be interested in buying before you think of them, but determining what's for dinner can consume half an afternoon.  What kind of absurdity is this?

The absurd can be funny.  Then, the random nonsense sets in.  Finally, the nonsense gets annoying.