The Briefing Or Document Held By The Department And Produced In 2025 That Refers To Any Evidence That FOI Requests Are Being Made At Scale By AI Bots.

Written by Claude Haiku 4.5 from the extracted text on 1 Mar 2026. It can miss or misread redacted and scanned pages. Check the source before relying on it.

The Attorney-General's Department has disclosed internal communications from August 2025 documenting a significant issue with AI-generated Freedom of Information requests. A departmental email reports that among 690 FOI requests on hand, sampling indicated 18% of personal matters and 50% of non-personal matters contained AI-generated content. The department identifies this trend as problematic because such requests are difficult to interpret, requiring multiple iterations of applicant consultation to clarify actual information sought, thereby extending processing timeframes and reducing statutory compliance. The disclosure includes examples of AI-generated requests and ChatGPT responses received by the department, along with a sample FOI request demonstrating the increasingly complex and extensive nature of contemporary requests, contrasting with simpler historical inquiries. The General Counsel raised these concerns with ministerial office staff regarding potential policy considerations related to managing AI-generated FOI submissions.