California drivers are getting an unwelcome pop quiz from the DMV—and flunking it could mean losing the right to drive. As the Los Angeles Times reports, roughly 11,000 people have been told their written driving tests showed unexplained "anomalies" and that their licenses will be canceled unless they retake the exam within 30 days. The DMV says its internal monitoring flagged the irregular results, which CBS News notes occurred between July 2025 and April 2026, but has declined to explain what triggered the alerts or whether software glitches, cheating suspicions, or AI tools are involved. The agency recently expanded its partnership with AI firm Anthropic and is already using its Claude assistant, but won't say if that's connected.
The letters, sent to residents from San Francisco to Sacramento to Santa Monica, state that the licenses were issued "in error" due to "non-compliance" with testing rules. Recipients must scan a QR code to book a new appointment and bring the letter plus their license or permit; if they fail to retake or pass, their license will be revoked. Some, like Sacramento's David Specht and San Francisco's Sam Burgin, describe confusion, long treks to distant DMV offices, and added costs—all without any clear explanation of what they supposedly did wrong. "I know I didn't cheat," Specht says. "And I presume many of the other 11,000 residents of California who received the letter also didn't cheat."
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