Washington hotline users hear AI voice with Spanish accent for Spanish option

SEATTLE — Callers to the Washington state Department of Licensing hotline who select the Spanish-language option have heard an AI voice speaking English with a strong Spanish accent, according to the Associated Press. The problem had persisted for months before the agency said it fixed the glitch and apologized.

For customers who need to use Spanish while calling for licensing information, the mismatch created an accessibility issue, the AP reported. The agency said it determined the issue was caused by DOL staff, and that its self-service phone option uses newer, AI-driven technology and supports multiple languages.

Maya Edwards, a Washington resident, told the AP that she learned about the AI-accented voice last summer after her Mexican husband tried the Spanish-language option while seeking information about his driver’s license. She said he hit 2 for Spanish because he expected a long wait to speak with a customer service representative in English.

Edwards said the experience felt absurd in the moment, but she also described it as harmful for day-to-day use. She said, “It was hilarious to us in the moment because it was so absurd,” and added, “But at the same time, it has real accessibility issues for people who call in every day and need to speak in a different language other than English.”

When Edwards called again this month, she found the error persisted, the AP reported. She posted a video of the call to TikTok, and the video drew around 2 million views, according to the AP.

In a statement to the AP, the Department of Licensing apologized and said it fixed the problem after determining it was caused by DOL staff. The agency also said the self-service option includes 10 languages and runs on newer, AI-driven technology, and noted that expanding services led DOL to find problems with the self-service option.

The AP said it was not immediately clear whether the issue affected other languages. The AP reported that attempts to use the phone service in some other languages did not prompt additional accented voices.

As of Thursday morning, the AP reported the call line played a message in English acknowledging that some translation services were not functioning properly, then proceeded to the voice. The AP said it followed prompts for the Spanish-language option and heard accented English that used Spanish only for numbers.

In a reported example from the call, the voice said, “Your estimated wait time is less than ‘tres’ minutes.” The AP also reported that DOL said Amazon provides the platform for the phone service and declined interview requests.

The AP reported it was able to replicate the accented voice using an Amazon Web Services feature called Polly and selecting a voice named “Lucia,” which mimics Castilian Spanish. The AP said Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.