🔍 Read the full analysis: Friction Won’t Halt AI’s Paperwork Spread Across Britain on ThorstenMeyerAI.com
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TL;DR
A Sky News report published October 20, 2026, found increases in complaints, Freedom of Information requests and employment tribunal claims across UK services since ChatGPT launched. The figures show a broad rise, but do not establish that AI caused it; evidence cited in the report suggests many complainants may have legitimate claims.
Written complaints and claims to British public bodies have risen across several services since ChatGPT launched in November 2022, according to a Sky News report published October 20. The report says AI tools have made it easier to draft formal submissions, but the data does not prove that AI caused the increase—and evidence cited suggests many submissions concern legitimate grievances.
Using data seen by Sky News, technology correspondent Rowland Manthorpe reported increases across a range of channels. Household complaints about water companies rose 144% since ChatGPT’s launch; complaints about English local authorities rose 78%; written complaints to GP practices rose 71%; and complaints to the Department for Work and Pensions rose 64%. Individual employment tribunal claims increased 62%. The report gives percentage changes since the launch but does not specify a common measurement window or explain every channel’s underlying count.
The rise also appeared in complaints about legal services, the NHS, police forces and public services, with reported increases ranging from 23% to 49%. Each area has its own possible causes. The report notes, for example, that water companies have faced difficult years. Its central observation is that several otherwise different channels showed a similar pattern: little movement for years, followed by growth from late 2022.
Manthorpe tested 100 recent Freedom of Information requests with an AI-text detector. It marked 89% as fully AI-written and 9% as human-written; a smaller 2019 sample was marked entirely human. The report cautions that AI detectors are unreliable, and says the test cannot establish that AI caused the wider increase. An academic survey cited by Sky News found 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, Greater Pressure on Services
The increase matters because many public services rely on people writing letters, complaints, applications or appeals to obtain decisions. If AI reduces the effort needed to make a submission, agencies may receive more correspondence and face heavier workloads. Civil servants quoted in the report described being bombarded with correspondence and said handling it could be exhausting and anxiety-inducing.
But a larger inbox is not, by itself, evidence of abuse. Sky News reported that the share of DWP complaints upheld has fallen from somewhere in the 50s to close to 40%. That is a lower proportion, but the report says the larger overall volume means the number of upheld complaints is still higher in absolute terms. Researcher Chris Schmitz, whose work on possible cases of “agentic flooding” was reported by TechCrunch in September, said: “The vast majority of cases we find are people who are entitled to claim for something, claiming for that thing.”
That distinction affects policy. Making submissions harder could reduce workload, but it could also deter people with valid complaints. The challenge for public bodies is to process more claims without treating AI use itself as proof that a submission is frivolous.
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From Chatbots to Automated Claims
The Information Commissioner’s Office issued guidance in May after public authorities reported higher volumes of AI-written Freedom of Information requests, including requests that misquoted legislation or required clarification. The ICO’s position, as described in the source report, is that AI-written requests remain valid. Authorities do not need to establish whether a person or AI wrote a request, though they can seek clarification when it is poorly formed.
The current increase may be a precursor to a further change: AI agents that can submit requests and claims, rather than merely draft text for a person to send. Manthorpe demonstrated an agent service from Meta in the report. Automated claims could make routine processes, such as appealing a parking ticket or seeking rail delay compensation, much easier to pursue. The source does not establish how widely such agents are already being used for these tasks.
Tom Loosemore, who founded the Government Digital Service and helped set up GOV.UK, argued that services built around long written submissions may not cope with the change. He said the government should consider replacing essay-like processes with structured data that captures the information needed to make a decision.
““It’s like being bombarded with correspondence at speed.””
— Civil servants surveyed in research cited by Sky News
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What the Rising Counts Cannot Prove
The figures show reported growth across several channels, but they do not establish that generative AI caused it. The report identifies other possible influences, including service-specific conditions, and the supplied figures do not give a consistent baseline count or a detailed account of the period used for every percentage. The AI-detector test is also limited: detector results can be unreliable, and a sample of 100 requests cannot prove authorship across the wider total.
It is also unclear how much of the increase comes from people using chatbots to draft text, how much reflects changes in public awareness or service performance, and how much may involve automated agents. The source material describes possible cases of “agentic flooding” across 11 jurisdictions, but that label and the reported cases do not establish that every rise is coordinated or abusive. The scale and effects of AI-agent submissions in Britain remain uncertain.
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How Public Bodies Adapt Their Processes
The next issue is whether public bodies respond by adding barriers to complaints or by changing how they collect information. The Financial Ombudsman Service, according to Sky News, found that about a third of its complaints were AI-generated and began charging some professional representatives to bring complaints; complaint numbers then fell. That example shows that restrictions can affect volume, but it does not by itself show whether they reduce only invalid claims or also discourage legitimate ones.
Loosemore has argued against relying on friction, warning that technology companies may find ways around it. His proposed alternative is to replace open-ended written accounts with structured forms and data, while keeping a route for people whose circumstances do not fit standard categories. The source report does not announce a government-wide policy or timetable for that change. Public agencies’ handling of AI-written requests, and whether they redesign application processes, will be the key developments to watch.
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Key Questions
What did the Sky News report find?
It reported that complaints, Freedom of Information requests and employment tribunal claims had risen across several UK channels since ChatGPT launched in November 2022. Reported increases included 144% for household complaints about water companies and 62% for individual employment tribunal claims.
Does the report prove AI caused the rise?
No. The report identifies a similar timing and pattern across different channels, but says the evidence does not prove causation. Service-specific factors and other influences may also contribute.
Are AI-written complaints invalid?
No. The Information Commissioner’s Office guidance described in the report says AI-written Freedom of Information requests are still valid. Authorities can ask for clarification if a request is poorly formed.
Are the additional complaints mostly fake?
The reported evidence does not support treating the overall rise as fake demand. Researcher Chris Schmitz said most cases in his research concerned people entitled to claim. The report also says the DWP’s upheld share is close to 40%, though it has fallen from the 50s.
What changes could public services make?
One proposal from Tom Loosemore is to replace essay-like applications with structured data collection. Whether government departments will adopt that approach, and on what timetable, has not been announced in the source report.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
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