Body
Callers to the Washington state Department of Licensing phone line who selected the automated Spanish option have, at times, been routed to a computer-generated voice speaking English with a strong Spanish accent, the Associated Press reported. The agency later apologized for the error and said it fixed the glitch, but the issue persisted for at least one caller who posted a recording online.
The problem surfaced for months, according to the report, for people who dialed the Department of Licensing hotline and pressed 2 for Spanish to get automated help. Instead of switching fully into Spanish, the voice continued in English with the accent, and the system used Spanish only for numbers. An AP reporter who followed the menu prompts for Spanish said the call placed the voice on the line after a message in English acknowledging that some translation services were not functioning properly.
Maya Edwards, a Washington resident, told the AP she learned about the AI-accented voice last summer after her Mexican husband tried using the Spanish-language option while seeking information about his driver’s license. Edwards said her husband is bilingual and pressed 2 for Spanish because the wait time for speaking with a customer service representative in English was long.
Edwards compared the experience to a scene from the comedy series “Parks and Recreation,” and she said it was “hilarious to us in the moment because it was so absurd.” She added that the situation raised accessibility concerns for people who need to communicate in a language other than English when calling in for help.
Edwards said that when she called the number again this month, she found the issue continued. She then posted a video of the call on TikTok, where it drew about 2 million views, the AP reported.
In statements reported by the AP, the Department of Licensing apologized for the error and said it fixed the glitch 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. The agency did not say in the report whether the issue affected other languages, and AP efforts to use the phone service in some other languages did not prompt additional accented voices.
The AP reported that it tested the system by selecting the Spanish-language option and said the call used Spanish only for numbers, while otherwise addressing callers in English. The report also said the Department of Licensing stated that Amazon provides the platform for the phone service and declined interview requests. According to the AP, AP journalists were able to replicate the accented voice by using an Amazon Web Services feature called Polly and selecting a voice labeled “Lucia,” which the report said mimics Castilian Spanish, while Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.