Opinion: AI tools are flooding public services with useless requests

In England, Scotland and Wales, employment tribunal cases are reportedly up 39% in a year, partly because claimants use AI to draft claims. Judges and magistrates are also dealing with AI‑written submissions that often contain nonexistent precedents. Whitehall advisers complain of a deluge of AI‑generated freedom‑of‑information requests, while MPs’ offices are swamped with AI‑written constituent letters that still require human review. Hinsliff warns that the same pattern that made email a productivity tool – only to become spam‑filled – is repeating with AI, risking a paralysis of public consultation and service delivery.

She suggests that, as with email filters and congestion charges for traffic, society will need new frictions to manage AI’s output, but cautions against assuming that more AI will automatically deliver time savings.