As artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT streamline the process of filing complaints and applications, public services across the globe are reeling from a flood of new requests. Complaints to the UK's housing ombudsman have more than doubled, while the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau saw a fivefold increase in complaints. Similar trends are being observed in Brazil and Germany.

Researcher Chris Schmitz, who tracks this phenomenon, calls it 'agentic flooding.' His research, presented at the AI Ethics and Society conference, covers 84 cases across 11 jurisdictions, revealing that AI is changing the way people interact with public services. The challenge now is figuring out how to respond.

Schmitz argues that while some new filings are clearly adversarial, many are from legitimate applicants using AI to file claims they might otherwise abandon. He sees this not as spam, but as an opportunity to modernise social services for the AI era. The jump in volume mirrors what bug-bounty services experienced last year, but Schmitz claims most new applications to public services are from real people with legitimate claims, not just spammers.

The difficulty lies in managing this surge. Companies struggled with the low-quality reports generated by AI, and public services may face a similar challenge, handling five times more applicants with the same budget. However, Schmitz believes the key is to use this opportunity to rethink how these services are structured, potentially making them more user-friendly for AI users.