British institutions report influx of AI-generated complaints — The Guardian
In the United Kingdom, local councils, parliamentary offices, employers and other institutions are reporting a sharp increase in correspondence that they believe was created using generative artificial intelligence. Such letters and complaints often require more time to process, although they can be prepared in a matter of minutes, The Guardian reports.
Holly Wickens, a senior caseworker in the office of a Labour MP, said that approximately half of the emails received by the office are generated to some extent with the help of AI. According to her, such correspondence has become more complex and requires greater effort to read and prepare a response.
Long and inaccurate correspondence
According to Deborah Evans, head of Lawyers in Local Government, local authorities are receiving an increasing number of complaints concerning social services, uncollected rubbish, appeals against parking fines and objections to development. Before chatbots became widespread, the average complaint was about two pages long, whereas now most such submissions are, in her assessment, ten times longer. The largest complaint she knows of was about 200 pages long.
The UK Information Commissioner's Office noted that requests likely prepared by AI can be excessively long, repetitive, contain comments unrelated to the subject, or set out incorrectly formulated demands. At the same time, such requests must be reviewed by people, even if they contain inaccuracies.
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Evans also warned that chatbots may cite laws and case law that do not apply to the UK jurisdiction or invent information. Some employers, according to the publication, receive complaints with exaggerated claims that do not always specify what resolution the applicant is seeking.
Burden on transport and parliamentary offices
Transport for London received a record 4,769 information-access requests in 2025–2026. This was 5% higher than the previous maximum in 2023–2024. Minutes of a meeting of TfL's Audit and Assurance Committee also referred to a noticeable increase in appeals that the agency believed may have been generated by AI and contained technical but often inaccurate claims.
Vonnie Sandlan, head of the office of Labour MP Graham Downie, said the influx of such requests had exhausted staff. Her office decided not to respond to automated campaigns such as “click to write to your MP” in order to focus on individual correspondence from constituents. Some councils are already considering using AI to summarise lengthy letters and prepare initial responses, while ombudsmen are introducing limits on the length of complaints or online forms with limits on attachments.
