UK Public Bodies Face Surge in AI-Generated Correspondence
UK local authorities and government bodies are struggling with a massive increase in long, AI-generated complaints and legal challenges known as agentic flooding.
Public bodies across the United Kingdom are experiencing a surge of artificial intelligence-generated correspondence, a phenomenon described as agentic flooding or AI clog. Local authorities, courts, schools, and Members of Parliament are receiving complaints and legal challenges that are often excessively long, with some documents reaching 200 pages. These submissions frequently contain hallucinations or inaccurate legal assertions despite their professional tone.
Transport for London reported a record 4,769 freedom of information requests in 2025-26, noting a rise in highly technical but incorrect appeals. The Information Commissioner’s Office also found that many public authorities saw an increase in requests during 2025. The GMB union reports that casework in some MP offices has doubled, leaving staff exhausted as they must manually review the high volume of AI-drafted text.
In response, some ombudsman services have implemented word limits to curb the length of submissions. Local councils, including Wiltshire, are exploring AI tools to summarize long emails to manage the workload. Deborah Evans-Stickland of Lawyers in Local Government noted that complaints are now often 10 times longer than previous averages, straining limited resources.
