AI tools that draft forms and appeals are driving more people toward public services that were designed for much lower volumes. Housing-ombudsman complaints in the United Kingdom rose from 2,600 in 2022 to just over 7,000 last year, while complaints to the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau increased fivefold over the same period. Similar patterns appeared in Brazilian courts and German parliamentary petitions.
Researcher Chris Schmitz calls the pattern “agentic flooding.” His forthcoming study reviews 84 possible cases across 11 jurisdictions. It does not establish that AI caused every increase, but many services were stable before 2022 and then grew as generative tools became widely available.
The submissions are not necessarily junk. Schmitz says most of the cases his team examined involve people who appear entitled to make the claim. AI may be removing an administrative burden that previously caused valid applicants to give up, even as it forces agencies to process more work with the same budget.
That distinction matters for policy. Blocking automated filings could deny access to people with legitimate needs, while accepting unlimited machine-generated material can overwhelm review staff. Agencies will need better intake, prioritization and verification rather than a simple spam filter.