Washington Department Of Licensing AI Spoke English in Spanish Accent

Offensive or funny? Probably both in this case, that was reported by the Associated Press and eventually shared by a social media group called “Not The Onion”, a site that spreads real news stories that sound like they were made up. With this particular one, it can be summed up with the quote from AP writer Cedar Attanasio, “Press 2 for Spanish… accent.”

Washington State’s Department of Licensing Fail

For far longer than it should have been happening, anyone who called the DOL and hit 2 for Spanish on the automated systems’ caller tree got an AI voice that spoke English, but in a strong Spanish accent.

When I saw this story being shared by the Facebook group, Not The Onion, and it took me to the original Associated Press story, I laughed harder than I should have. But then I started thinking how frustrating this could be, and I shook my head in disbelief.

This seems like a joke from Cheech & Chong or the TV show Parks and Recreation, but it was a real thing that went on for months, and yes, the Washington agency did apologize and fix the issue.

Just to be sure it was fixed, I did call the DOL’s Olympia number, and the Spanish option was in Spanish, for the most part.

How This Washington AI Blunder Was Noticed

According to the AP, it all started with a phone call from a Mr. Edwards, who, while on hold, decided to put his bilingual skills to use when wanting to speak to customer service. Seeing the wait time in Spanish was considerably shorter than in English, he chose option 2.

His wife posted a video on TikTok and racked up the views, and a follow-up video, which you can check out below.

Unchecked AI In Washington

Is this another example of companies (even government) putting it’s trust and work into AI and assuming that it will be alright and clearly it wasn’t or just a simple error?

What are your thoughts on this topic? Funny mistake or offensive blunder from Olympia? Tap the App and let us know your thoughts.

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