The volume of correspondence produced by generative chatbots has moved from a modest trickle in 2024 to a daily flood, according to senior caseworker Hollie Wickens of a Labour MP’s office. Tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot and Gemini are enabling users to draft detailed letters, complaints and legal arguments with minimal effort, turning laypeople into pseudo-experts.
Developers have promoted these systems as a way to free staff from repetitive tasks, and early indicators suggest some productivity gains, with AI cited as a factor in stronger UK GDP growth this year. At the same time, businesses, courts, schools and local councils report a dramatic increase in AI-generated letters, complaints and legal challenges that are stretching already thin resources.
Local authorities are seeing a spike in complaints ranging from adult social-care issues to missed bin collections and planning objections. Evans, a spokesperson for a council association, notes that funding does not rise with the number of complaints, creating a financial squeeze. The Information Commissioner’s Office recorded a rise in requests during 2025, describing them as unusually long, repetitive and often off-topic, with average complaint length now ten times the pre-AI norm and some reaching two hundred pages.
Employment tribunals are also feeling the pressure, with a 28 percent rise in claims between April and June compared with the previous year, amounting to fourteen thousand new cases and a backlog of seventy thousand open claims by June. A founder of a claimant-support group expects legal costs of thirty thousand pounds per case. Employee-relations specialist Jim Moore says many of his clients receive correspondence that is entirely AI-generated, overly verbose and inflates minor incidents into serious allegations.
Transport for London reported a record 4,769 freedom-of-information requests for the 2025-26 period, a five percent increase on the prior peak, and a noticeable rise in appeals that appear to be produced by AI and contain technical yet inaccurate assertions. Vonnie Sandlan, head of office for Labour MP Graeme Downie, says staff are exhausted, working longer hours without extra pay, and her office has stopped replying to automated “click-to-email your MP” campaigns to focus on genuine constituent concerns.
In response, some ombudsman services are imposing word limits on complaints and providing template forms to curb excess detail. Wiltshire council is testing AI tools to summarise lengthy emails and draft initial replies, while Stroud district council is using Microsoft’s Copilot for report writing. Researchers have suggested charging fees for submissions or blocking bots to deter the flood. The UK government has issued guidance to civil servants to verify AI-generated facts, avoid entering personal data and ensure a human makes final decisions.