I asked the ai in the community page and this is what it had to say: The "valley girl" sound with filler words like "um," "like," and "uh" in your agent's speech is likely caused by the

handbook_config.natural_filler_words

setting being enabled[(1)](https://docs.retellai.com/api-references/update-agent)[(2)](https://docs.retellai.com/api-references/create-agent). To fix this, update your agent with `natural_filler_words: false`:

javascript
const agentResponse = await client.agent.update('your_agent_id', {
  handbook_config: {
    natural_filler_words: false
  }
});

[(1)](https://docs.retellai.com/api-references/update-agent) The

handbook_config

object includes a

natural_filler_words

toggle that influences agent response style and behaviors[(1)](https://docs.retellai.com/api-references/update-agent)[(2)](https://docs.retellai.com/api-references/create-agent). When set to

true

, the agent uses natural filler words in speech[(1)](https://docs.retellai.com/api-references/update-agent)[(2)](https://docs.retellai.com/api-references/create-agent). Setting it to

false

should eliminate the "um," "like," and "uh" patterns you're experiencing[(1)](https://docs.retellai.com/api-references/update-agent)[(2)](https://docs.retellai.com/api-references/create-agent). If you didn't intentionally change this setting, check if your agent configuration was recently modified or if you're using a different agent version than before[(3)](https://docs.retellai.com/api-references/list-agents)[(1)](https://docs.retellai.com/api-references/update-agent).

Not sure when they added that, but it's awful.

NaTuRaL_filler_words