Under strAIn: breaking the British state
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What is the episode’s opening premise about AI‑driven complaints to the British state?
The Economist.
Hello and welcome to the intelligence from the economist. I'm Rosie Blore.
And I'm Jason Palmer.
Today on the show should priests have to report child abuse disclosed in confession and the trials and tribulations of being a short man?
But first
Have you ever had the feeling that your interactions with your government were kinda deliberately difficult? That basically it was so complex to appeal a ticket or fine or figure out a tax deduction that fewer people would bother? Me too. But do you know what's great for explaining and navigating that kind of complexity? Yeah you do.
We all hate having to deal with the bureaucracy of the tax office or the town hall or whatever. And so we are seeing the public are rapidly turning to artificial intelligence to help them navigate their daily interactions with the state.
Matthew Holehouse is our public policy editor.
As a result, bureaucracies everywhere are struggling to cope with the new demand that this is putting on them, and so there's something of an arms race really between the state and the public in terms of who can adopt artificial intelligence more quickly.
What do you mean by interactions with the state?
You're seeing the public adopt AI pretty much anywhere where they have to deal with the state, particularly where it involves lots of form filling or understanding quite complex rules. And what one of the characteristics of this is that it tends to crop up in quite unexpected places. So where we're seeing this quite prominently in the UK is in the employment tribunal system. These are courts that deal with disputes between workers and their bosses. We've seen the backlog in employment tribunal cases rise fifty-five percent in a single year. In large part, lawyers say due to a big increase in claims have been brought with the help of AI, which have made more claims but also made those claims more complex to deal with.
We're seeing it in the planning system, filing an objection to a planning complaint is quite hard work. They've seen a big increase in people who've used AI to help prepare their objections. You're seeing it in the benefits system again, somewhere where there's lots of form filling, quite complex systems for people to understand. They're turning to things like Chat GPT to help them understand the system, but also how to file the most successful claim possible. You are seeing it pop up in the most humdrum corners of the state, particularly when there's a bit of money at stake. So parking appeals is something where we are seeing claims pretty much everywhere, actually. People using AI to help them appeal against a parking ticket that they don't want to pay.
You will see it in the UK with the new Renters' Rights Act, which is an act of parliament that allows people to challenge the rent increase that they get from their landlord.
How are citizens using AI to navigate complex bureaucracy like tax, parking tickets and benefits?
So pretty much anywhere you can think of really, there tends to be applications for this. But as a rule, it's the more complex or boring or difficult bit of bureaucracy you've got to deal with with the state, the more likely it is that people turn to AI to help them with it.
But you framed this at the outset as an arms race. The government is responding in turn.
Yeah, so the question this poses for governments is does AI in the end prove to be a big productivity booster for governments, or does it turn out to be a productivity drag? So the British government, like governments pretty much everywhere, thought that AI could turn out to be a massive productivity booster and they'd get huge savings as a result. Because you think of all the paperwork that goes on. But the question is Does the savings that result from that outweigh the increased cost to the state of a citizenry which is using AI to maximise their rights, to claim all the entitlements that they're due, to challenge the tax bill they don't want? That's where this arms race dynamic comes in.
Is this development good for the citizenry, for the machinery of government?
On the face of it, for you and I, this is an absolute godsend because lots of people don't like dealing with bureaucracy.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the episode’s opening premise about AI‑driven complaints to the British state?
0:03–3:08
2
How are citizens using AI to navigate complex bureaucracy like tax, parking tickets and benefits?
3:08–7:03
3
Why do employment tribunals and planning objections illustrate an AI‑fuelled “arms race” with the government?
7:03–10:18
4
Can AI be a productivity boost or a drag for government services?
10:18–13:51
5
What are the legal arguments around mandatory reporting of child abuse from confession?
13:51–17:24
6
How are U.S. states differing on whether clergy must report abuse disclosed in confession?
17:24–22:16
7
What is the “short king” phenomenon and how does height affect men’s dating and career prospects?
22:16–24:32