‘AI clog’: UK public bodies battle onslaught of chatbot-generated complaints
Summary
UK public bodies and other organisations say chatbot-generated complaints, requests and legal challenges are increasing their workloads. Staff say the messages can be quick to produce but lengthy and time-consuming to review, while local authorities report more complaints and appeals amid limited resources.Key Facts
- Hollie Wickens, a senior caseworker in a Labour MP’s office, says about half of the emails her office receives are generated in some way by AI.
- Lawyers in Local Government represents 5,600 lawyers who work in local authorities.
- Local authorities receive complaints about issues including social care, missed bin collections and planning applications.
- Enfield council leader Alessandro Georgiou says the council has seen a significant increase in parking appeals.
- The Information Commissioner’s Office said many public authorities received more requests in 2025.
- The watchdog said AI-generated requests can be lengthy, repetitive, cover a wider scope and include unrelated comments or misdirected demands.
- Researchers have called the practice of sending public bodies large volumes of AI-generated requests “agentic flooding.”
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