{"id":2170570,"date":"2026-09-29T05:06:59","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T02:06:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2170570"},"modified":"2026-09-29T05:06:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T02:06:59","slug":"council-uses-ai-to-tackle-ai-generated-complaints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2170570","title":{"rendered":"Council uses AI to tackle AI-generated complaints"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/f8ed\/live\/2cb38340-bb17-11f1-bc1f-3f186ca4140c.png”]<\/p>\n

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\"GettyGetty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Residents are increasingly using AI tools to quickly and easily lodge complaints<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A council is using AI tools to respond to a spiraling number of complaints, which it says are written with the help of AI. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Both Wiltshire Council and Stroud District Council in Gloucestershire have noticed more people using AI tools to write complaints, leading to more of them. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Wiltshire Council received 783 formal complaints during 2025-26, a 27% rise from the previous year, and in a report Stroud councilors said AI was making complaints “more complex”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Perry Homes, Wiltshire Council’s director of legal and governance, said the council was exploring how “emerging technologies” could support a “more efficient and responsive” complaints process.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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During a review of Wiltshire Council’s Annual Complaints Performance and Service Improvement Report, councillors were told AI is changing the way Wiltshire residents complain, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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AI-generated submissions are often much longer and can include, according to Wiltshire Council, “factual inaccuracies or information that does not fully reflect an individual’s circumstances”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“This highlights how technology is changing the way people interact with organisations and the need for public services to adapt,” Homes said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The council said it was responding by embracing the technology itself and exploring ways AI can streamline complaint administration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Councillor Ruth Hopkinson said: “The thought of AI-generated complaints being responded to by AI-generated responses makes my blood turn cold.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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However Homes said any use of AI was intended to “assist” staff, “not replace them”, with “appropriate human oversight”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Adult Social Care attracted the highest number of complaints in Wiltshire, with 158 cases, followed by Families and Children, Education and Skills and Housing Services. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Despite the increase in workload, Wiltshire Council said complaints handling performance had improved, with responses issued within target timescales having increased. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In Stroud, the council received more than 620 complaints in the last year, with 55% of them responded to within the councils published service standards.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In an Audit and Standards Committee meeting later, Stroud District Council will be discussing AI. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The itinerary says officers have noticed more complaints using AI and that it will “continue to monitor impact and review process and policy to maintain effective service delivery”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Follow BBC Wiltshire on <\/i>Facebook<\/i>, <\/i>X<\/i> and <\/i>Instagram<\/i>. Send your story ideas to us on email or via <\/i>WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c59v9zxd479wo”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/f8ed\/live\/2cb38340-bb17-11f1-bc1f-3f186ca4140c.png”] Getty Images Residents are increasingly using AI tools to quickly and easily lodge complaints A council is using AI tools to respond to a spiraling number of complaints, which it says are written with the help of AI. Both Wiltshire Council and Stroud District Council in Gloucestershire have noticed more people using […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35,226],"class_list":["post-2170570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bbc-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2170570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2170570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2170570\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2170570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2170570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2170570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}