A bizarre technical glitch at Washington state’s Department of Licensing has left Spanish-speaking callers scratching their heads for months.
When people dial the agency’s customer service line and select option two for Spanish assistance, they don’t get Spanish at all. Instead, they hear an artificial intelligence voice delivering English words with an exaggerated Spanish accent.
Washington resident Maya Edwards discovered this unusual situation last summer when her bilingual Mexican husband attempted to use the Spanish language service for driver’s license information. Facing lengthy wait times for English-speaking representatives, he chose the Spanish option instead.
Edwards compared the experience to something from the satirical TV comedy “Parks and Recreation,” which pokes fun at local government mishaps.
“It was hilarious to us in the moment because it was so absurd,” Edwards explained Thursday. “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.”
The problem persisted for months without resolution. Earlier this month, Edwards tested the system again and found the same error occurring. She recorded the call and shared it on TikTok, where the video gained approximately 2 million views.
Department of Licensing officials have issued an apology and acknowledged they’re working to resolve the technical malfunction. The agency’s statement explained that their self-service system offers assistance in 10 different languages using newer AI-powered technology, though it remains unclear whether other languages have similar problems. Associated Press testing of other language options didn’t reveal additional accented voices.
“DOL apologizes for the error and to its customers for any inconvenience,” officials stated. “An unfortunate byproduct of expanding services is that DOL found problems with the self-service option.”
The department has refused to identify which AI company provides their translation services, redirecting inquiries to WaTech, the state’s technology services agency. WaTech representatives haven’t responded to requests for vendor information.
As of Thursday morning, the phone system continued producing the problematic voice, despite an English-language message acknowledging translation service malfunctions.
When an Associated Press journalist tested the Spanish options, the accented English voice would only pronounce numbers in Spanish while speaking everything else in English.
“Your estimated wait time is less than ‘tres’ minutes,” the voice announced during testing.
