Renfrewshire Council is facing additional pressure from lengthy and sometimes inaccurate complaints and Freedom of Information requests produced using artificial intelligence.
The issue was raised during the council’s Leadership Board meeting on Wednesday 16th September 2026 as members considered the authority’s expansion of AI.
Councillor Jim Paterson asked what pressure was being caused by people using AI to prepare councillor enquiries, complaints and information requests.
Head of Corporate Governance Mark Conaghan said officers had received responses within minutes of issuing detailed FOI decisions. Some challenged the council using legislation that applies in England rather than Scotland.
He told the meeting: “We are just getting the AI correspondence, and I think that it is going to have a detrimental impact on us in terms of the volume and length of FOI requests and complaints that are coming into the council. They are becoming harder and harder to respond to because they are AI generated and, in a lot of cases, not at all relevant or just wholly incorrect.”
Chief Executive Allan Russell said AI could help people explain a complaint or request.
However, he said the length and complexity of submissions was increasing and could make it more difficult to identify the central issue.
Council officers said human oversight would remain necessary when AI was used to support the authority’s own work.