AI tools trigger surge in public-service filings across multiple countries
AI-driven assistants have caused a sharp rise in complaints and petitions to government agencies in the United Kingdom, United States, Brazil and Germany, according to new research.
Since the rollout of large language models like ChatGPT, public agencies have reported dramatic upticks in user-generated requests. In Britain, complaints to the housing ombudsman more than doubled, rising from 2,600 in 2022 to just over 7,000 the following year, while the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau saw its complaint volume quintuple. Similar surges appear in Brazilian judicial petitions and German parliamentary petitions.
Chris Schmitz, compiling a dataset of 84 incidents across 11 jurisdictions, describes the phenomenon as “agentic flooding,” noting that submission rates were flat before 2022 and have accelerated as AI tools become more capable. Although a portion of the new filings are hostile, the majority originate from real individuals with valid claims who previously abandoned applications due to complexity. Schmitz suggests the influx could be leveraged to overhaul public-service design, easing administrative burdens and improving access.
He likens the situation to bug-bounty platforms overwhelmed by low-quality AI-generated reports, but stresses that most public-service entries are substantive. The research will be presented at the upcoming AI Ethics and Society conference.
Why it matters
AI-assisted filing is overwhelming government services, forcing a rethink of how public programs handle citizen requests.
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