AI agents drive sharp rise in public-service applications and complaints

Researcher Chris Schmitz documented 84 cases across 11 jurisdictions in which AI tools produced large, sustained increases in applications, complaints and petitions to public services after 2022. Examples include more than doubling of UK housing ombudsman complaints and five-fold growth in US CFPB complaints. Most new filings appear to come from legitimate claimants whose administrative burden was previously prohibitive, raising questions about service redesign for the agent era.