They say A.I. can be smarter than the average human, but that really overestimates a human’s ability to train A.I.
A year ago, the Washington State Department of Licensing started using A.I. to handle its automated service over the phone.
But get this: Callers who “pressed 2 for Spanish” did not actually get Spanish. They got an A.I. voice speaking in English, with a heavy Spanish accent. (???)
Naturally, some people complained, while others found it hilarious, and compared the A.I. responses to the broken English used by Consuela the Maid on “Family Guy”.
It really was Spanglish, with the only ACTUAL Spanish words being the numbers. Like, “Your estimated wait time is less than ‘tres’ minutes.”
The agency has since apologized, and said it fixed the problem, but it took them a while. One caller says they first noticed the issue last summer, and it was still happening last month.
The agency blamed the error on staff. They say the automated service has 10 languages, and now runs on newer A.I. technology. Unfortunately, they did not keep “Spanglish” as one of the language options.
(There’s audio at the source link, and on TikTok. The video went viral and got more than 2 million views, so it’s probably the reason that a fix finally got fast-tracked.)
@maya_maybee So this is actually crazy #fyp #spanishlanguage #accent #latino #wild
(AP)
