- Published
A rising tide of complaints written with the help of AI is substantially increasing the workload of schools, local councils and other public bodies, the BBC has been told.
Chatbots can produce complex arguments, often quoting regulations or acts of Parliament, with documents running to dozens of pages long.
One body said complaints once contained to a single sheet of A4 could now run to 20 pages. They said AI also made errors and sometimes misquoted legislation, and further added to the time it takes to deal with grievances.
Many people say AI makes complaining more accessible and effective, with one person telling the BBC it has "made a real practical difference in how I've been able to represent myself".
However, Deborah Evans, chief executive of Lawyers in Local Government – which represents 5,600 lawyers working in local authorities – estimated her organisation needed double the current workforce to deal with the "massive" increase in complaints.
Dawn Harverson, who struggles with writing, said AI can help people complain more easily.
"In the past, you'd be able to pick up the phone and speak to somebody," she told the BBC.
"We're all pushed down this road to send emails, and so somebody who's neurodivergent or intimidated by the written word will just simply not complain."
Posts across social media also testify to the popularity of using AI to challenge parking fines or appeal benefits decisions.
27 pages about bins #
Evans said she welcomed the fact that AI was helping more people exercise their right to complain.
However, she said it had "increased the number of trivial or unjustified complaints", along with their complexity.
Without AI, she said, a complaint might be "one side of A4 about your bins not being emptied".
"But when AI gets involved, the complexity and length of that complaint ramps up enormously," she said. "A complaint could be between 19 and 27 pages, include case law, and quote various Acts of Parliament."
Complaints handlers might then need to consult lawyers, adding to councils' costs.
To meet this rising workload by increasing staff alone "you'd be doubling your workforce on complaint handling", she said.
In practice, it would most likely result in slower responses, she added.
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Evans said councils needed to consider alternative solutions - such as using forms to limit the length of complaints - but some regard such measures as a way to curtail accountability.
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Amerdeep Clarke - which investigates individual complaints about councils - told the BBC AI needed to be used with "discretion".
"We have also seen a rise in the use of AI in legal challenges to our decisions," she added.
School leaders have also reported a rise in complex cases linked to AI.
Pepe Di'Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, told the BBC complaints were rising for a variety of reasons and AI was adding to the effort needed to deal with them.
"Often schools also see parents using AI to generate multiple and extensive complaints which adds to the difficulty in resolving these issues and puts further strain on staff," he said.
'Hidden workload' #
Public sector workers told the BBC they support the use of AI as a way remove barriers to challenging decisions. But the difficulty is in how to preserve that while discouraging time-wasting requests.
AI is increasingly used to help request data from public authorities under the UK's Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.
People can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) when they believe information has been wrongly withheld, or they haven't had a response in time.
The ICO said in May it had been told FOI teams were seeing "higher volumes of requests, a greater complexity of request" - including some which "misquote legislation or require significant clarification before they can be processed".
The UK's data watchdog even published guidance on the issue, external, saying "without clear, practical support, this trend risks placing pressure on FOI teams and could lead to delays, errors or increased complaints".
Lynn Wyeth a digital officer at the National Association of Data Protection Officers - a membership body for those handling FOIs - said AI-assisted requests appeared to be "creating a hidden workload".
"They frequently lead to longer correspondence, clarification exercises and long complex appeals," she said.
She said public authorities needed the go-ahead to use AI themselves in order to deal with the increase in requests.
Harverson says AI, like any tool, needs to be used thoughtfully.
"If people are just going to press send on a very elaborate email complaint, then OK that might be taking up time, but then that's just a bad use of AI," she said.
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