🔍 Read the full analysis: How AI Is Adding To Britain’s Bureaucratic Paper Trail on ThorstenMeyerAI.com
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TL;DR
Sky News reports that written complaints, Freedom of Information requests and employment tribunal claims have risen across several UK public services since ChatGPT launched in November 2022. The report says AI may make it easier to submit claims, but available data does not establish that AI caused the increases or that the added submissions are mostly invalid.
A Sky News report published October 20 found that written complaints and claims have risen across several British public services since ChatGPT launched in November 2022, as generative AI makes it easier to draft formal submissions. The report links the timing and pattern to AI use, but does not establish that AI caused the increases; it also cites evidence that many claims are legitimate, raising questions about how authorities can manage added paperwork without blocking access to redress.
Using data seen by Sky News, technology correspondent Rowland Manthorpe reported increases in multiple channels, including complaints to councils, water companies, GP practices and government departments. Household complaints about water companies rose 144% after ChatGPT’s launch, while complaints to English local authorities rose 78% and written complaints to GP practices rose 71%. Individual employment tribunal claims increased 62%. The source material does not specify the precise end date or calculation method for each percentage.
Other reported increases included 64% for complaints to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), 49% for legal-services complaints, 35% for written NHS complaints and 34% for complaints about police forces. Public-service complaints rose 23%. Manthorpe described a recurring pattern across channels: figures that had remained comparatively flat began rising after late 2022. Each service may also have specific causes; the report notes, for example, that water companies have faced difficult recent years.
To test whether submissions were written with AI, Manthorpe put 100 recent Freedom of Information requests through an AI-text detector. It classified 89% as fully AI-written and 9% as human-written; a smaller 2019 sample was classified as entirely human. The report cautioned that AI detectors are unreliable and that this small test does not prove AI caused the wider rise. Separately, an academic survey cited by Sky News found that 58% of surveyed civil servants said AI-generated public submissions significantly affected their work.
Infographic 01 · The paperwork curve
Flat for a decade. Then ChatGPT made paperwork cheap.
Across almost every channel where people write to the British state, volume has risen since November 2022. Much of it is justified.
Growth since ChatGPT launched
Change per channel since November 2022, as measured by Sky News. Bar length on a 0–150% scale.
Each channel has its own causes. The repeated shape, flat then accelerating from late 2022, is the signal.
Not just Britain
Other measurements of the same trend.
- UK Housing Ombudsman: about 2,600 complaints in 2022, just over 7,000 last year (TechCrunch).
- US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: complaints up fivefold over the same period.
- 84 cases in 11 jurisdictions of possible “agentic flooding”, most flat before 2022 (Chris Schmitz).
- ICO guidance, May 2026: AI-written FOI requests are valid; authorities may ask for clarification.
Schmitz: “The vast majority of cases we find are people who are entitled to claim for something, claiming for that thing.”
Sources: Sky News, Why AI could break Britain’s bureaucracy (20 Oct 2026); TechCrunch (10 Sep 2026); ICO (May 2026).
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More Claims, Harder-Pressed Services
The rise matters because many public services process requests through letters, forms and written explanations. If AI reduces the time and confidence needed to complain, appeal or request information, more people may be able to assert rights they already have. The same change can also increase the volume and complexity of work for public employees, slowing responses or diverting time from other cases.
The evidence does not support treating the new volume simply as spam. Sky News reported that the share of DWP complaints upheld has fallen from levels in the 50s to close to 40%. That is a lower proportion, but it is still a substantial share; with a larger total number of complaints, the number upheld may be higher in absolute terms. The report does not provide the underlying counts needed to calculate that total. Researcher Chris Schmitz, whose work the report cites, said most cases he found involved people claiming something to which they were entitled.
That distinction matters for policy. Adding fees or hurdles may reduce submissions, but could also deter valid complaints alongside weak ones. A service designed around structured information and clear questions may be better able to process larger volumes without making access depend on a person’s ability to write a persuasive essay.
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How Public Complaints Are Changing
The development sits at the intersection of generative AI and paper-based administration. ChatGPT became publicly available in November 2022. Since then, people have been able to use chatbots to draft, revise or organize letters and requests. The Sky News report says much of today’s activity still involves people copying text between a chatbot and a submission form, rather than automated agents filing independently.
In May, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) published guidance after public authorities reported higher volumes of AI-generated Freedom of Information requests, including requests that misquoted legislation or needed clarification. The ICO’s position, as summarized in the source material, is that an AI-written request remains valid. Authorities do not need to determine whether a person or an AI wrote it, though they may seek clarification when a request is not clear enough to handle.
The trend is not limited to Britain. The report cites a paper by researcher Chris Schmitz, covered by TechCrunch in September, describing 84 possible cases of what he calls “agentic flooding” across 11 jurisdictions. It also points to the UK Housing Ombudsman, where complaints rose from about 2,600 in 2022 to just over 7,000 last year, and the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where complaints reportedly grew fivefold. These examples show a broader pattern, not proof that AI alone produced it.
““It’s like being bombarded with correspondence at speed.””
— Civil servants in an academic survey cited by Sky News
What the Numbers Cannot Show
The reported timing and parallel rises do not show that AI caused the increase in every channel. The source material gives percentages but not the underlying counts, full date ranges or calculation methods for each series. It also notes that individual sectors have their own pressures, making it difficult to separate AI’s role from other changes in demand or service performance.
The AI-detector exercise is not a reliable measure of how much public correspondence was generated by AI: the tool can misclassify text, and the sample of 100 recent requests was small. Nor does a document’s style establish whether a complaint is accurate or justified. The survey figure describes civil servants’ reported experience, not a count of submissions independently verified as AI-written.
It is also unclear how quickly AI agents will begin submitting claims automatically at scale, or how much they will change current volumes. The report describes agent technology and possible uses, but does not establish that automated mass filing is already widespread in the UK.
Redesigning Forms and Services
The immediate test for public bodies is how they handle unclear, complex or high-volume requests under existing rules. The ICO’s guidance gives authorities a route to ask for clarification, while preserving the validity of requests simply because AI may have helped draft them. The source material does not identify a new government policy or a timetable for one.
Loosemore’s proposed direction is to replace essay-like application processes with structured data and simpler service design. That would shift the task from judging prose to gathering the information needed to decide a case. The report presents this as an alternative to deliberately adding friction, which Loosemore warns could become an arms race as technology changes.
Whether that approach will be adopted, and how departments will assess costs, delays and access to legitimate claims, remains open. As AI tools develop from drafting assistants into agents that can act for users, the pressure on systems built around written submissions may grow. For now, the confirmed picture is rising volumes across several channels, reported staff impact and continuing uncertainty about how much of the change AI explains.
Key Questions
What did the Sky News report find?
It reported increases since ChatGPT launched in November 2022 across several written-submission channels, including water-company complaints, council complaints, GP complaints and employment tribunal claims. The report does not establish that AI caused those increases.
Does the report prove that AI caused the rise in complaints?
No. The timing and similar patterns across services are consistent with a possible AI effect, but the report says the evidence is not conclusive. Other factors may also affect complaint volumes, and the detector test cannot prove authorship or causation.
Are AI-written Freedom of Information requests valid?
According to the ICO guidance summarized in the report, an AI-written request is still a valid request. Authorities do not need to identify whether AI was used, but may ask for clarification if the request is unclear or badly formed.
Are the additional complaints mostly false or abusive?
The report does not support that conclusion. It cites researcher Chris Schmitz saying most cases in his research involved people claiming something they were entitled to claim. The available material does not establish what proportion of all new UK submissions are valid.
What changes could public services make?
Tom Loosemore argues for services based on structured data rather than lengthy written explanations. That is a proposal, not an announced government plan; the report does not give a timetable for reforms.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
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