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Callers to Washington state hotline press 2 for Spanish and get accented AI English instead (apnews.com)

submitted 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) by supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world

29 comments fedilink hide all child comments

For months, callers to the Washington state Department of Licensing who have requested automated service in Spanish have instead heard an AI voice speaking English in a strong Spanish accent. The agency has since apologized and says it’s trying to fix the problem.

AI is putting threatening to put The Onion out of business, not because The Onion articles can be written by AI, rather AI has just made this kind of satire nearly obsolete. The Onion is forced to retreat into existential screaming into the void humor, which they have done magnificently in the face of an unstoppable foe. The Onion will prevail and outlive AI though, mark my words!

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[–] x00z@lemmy.world 21 points 3 hours ago (5 children)

I think you can hear an example here: https://www.spokanepublicradio.org/regional-news/2026-02-26/couple-asks-wa-dol-for-spanish-speaker-and-gets-a-recording-in-accented-english-instead

[–] QuantumSparkles@sh.itjust.works 1 points 48 seconds ago

PLEASE PRESS UNO

[–] daychilde@lemmy.world 1 points 12 minutes ago

I couldn't see anything there (but it sounds like some could) - anyone else has problems, try this one - it's in the latter half: https://www.tiktok.com/@maya_maybee/video/7608347117161041183

Ah, man...... I know it's a screwup and it's just hilarious.

[–] turboSnail@piefed.europe.pub 18 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

🤣 priceless!

You know there are vibe coders who don’t even try to run the code before uploading it. Apparently, those very same people make phone services too. Just do everything with AI, and ship it without checking anything at all. Full steam ahead, never look back.

[–] x00z@lemmy.world 13 points 3 hours ago

And they get paid the same amount as normal developers. And probably get paid to fix all the mistakes they make.

[–] hperrin@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

That doesn’t sound like an AI voice in that it used generative AI. It sounds like someone just fed the English into a Hispanic voice on a regular text to speech engine. I could be wrong though.

[–] x00z@lemmy.world 2 points 50 minutes ago

Or maybe somebody wrote an AI prompt that said "hey make this voice file sound Spanish".

[–] bold_omi@lemmy.today 5 points 3 hours ago

Thanks for the link.