Description: For months, callers to the Washington State Department of Licensing who selected Spanish reportedly received AI-generated English responses spoken with a Spanish accent rather than actual Spanish-language service. The agency reportedly apologized and said staff configuration caused the error, which purportedly created accessibility problems for callers seeking language support.
Entities
View all entitiesAlleged: Amazon developed an AI system deployed by Washington State Department of Licensing and Amazon, which harmed Spanish language speakers , General public of Washington State and General public.
Alleged implicated AI system: Polly
Incident Stats
Incident ID
1401
Report Count
1
Incident Date
2026-02-27
Editors
Daniel Atherton
Incident Reports
Reports Timeline
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SEATTLE (AP) --- Press 2 for Spanish ... accent?
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.…
Variants
A "variant" is an AI incident similar to a known case—it has the same causes, harms, and AI system. Instead of listing it separately, we group it under the first reported incident. Unlike other incidents, variants do not need to have been reported outside the AIID. Learn more from the research paper.
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