Aug 25, 2026 · 28 min · 14 segments
ARIA is the UK's research and development funding agency that's built to unlock new scientific and technological developments. We speak to ARIA's new boss about their work. Also this week: the tech…
Chris VallanceHost
Kathleen FisherGuest
Deborah EvansGuest
Callum SmithGuest
Aaron MorganGuest
Al LockGuest
Dawn HarversonGuest
[upbeat music] Well, we started with tech that might change all our lives, and for many of us, AI is already doing that.
Take, for instance, the business of complaining about something to a public body.
At the click of a button, an AI can draft you a professional-sounding letter of complaint, and local officials say there's been a surge in AI-written complaints.
Londoner Dawn Harverson, who struggles with writing, says that it's been tremendously helpful, particularly as organizations have shut down other ways of voicing a complaint.
So, um, in the past, you'd be able to pick up the phone and speak to somebody a- a- and possibly go through points of what the issue was on the phone, and they could ma- possibly do something about it.
And so somebody who's neurodivergent or, or, or intimidated by the written word for whatever reason will, will just, will simply not complain.
So maybe this, this surge is, is actually all these people who, who've, who've not felt enabled before, and, and that's not really, um, a reason to complain about them having a voice now.
And if you look on social media, there are plenty of accounts of people around the world who, like Dawn, have found that AI enabled them to make a complaint, perhaps challenging a parking fine or a benefits decision, which they might otherwise have struggled to do.
People working for local councils in the UK welcome the ability of AI to help people complain, but they've also told us of a downside, that AI can generate unnecessarily long complaints quoting laws and regulations, and it's placing a big burden on their teams.
A representative of the Planning Officers' Society, which represents over three thousand local officials, told me that AI can generate legalistic complaints that look strong but turn out to be, quote, "Simply an amalgam of issues, policy or law, which is effectively a word salad drawn from the internet." Deborah Evans is the chief executive of Lawyers in Local Government, which represents over five thousand six hundred council lawyers.
Uh, the first, most obvious impact is the massive increase that councils have seen in complaints, um, as a result of AI being used to assist in the drafting of those complaints.
Now, that can be advantageous in the case of people, um, who are vulnerable or with special needs who really benefit from, um, the availability of AI to help them verbalize their complaint.
Um, however, it has also massively increased the number of trivial or unjustified complaints, um, which drives up volumes and then slows down the process, uh, needs further resource adding, which councils can barely afford, um, and then increases response time.
And, and that's because it's easier for people to complain, is it? And to produce a lengthy complaint.
It, it's very quick and easy, um, to then raise a complaint about something quite simple, maybe, um, a, you know, a quick service complaint that perhaps, um, you would've put...
If you were writing it yourself, it might've been one side of A4, um, about your bins not being emptied for a couple of weeks or, you know, whatever it may be.
Um, but when AI gets involved, the complexity and length of that complaint ramps up enormously.
[upbeat music] Well, we started with tech that might change all our lives, and for many of us, AI is already doing that.
Take, for instance, the business of complaining about something to a public body.
At the click of a button, an AI can draft you a professional-sounding letter of complaint, and local officials say there's been a surge in AI-written complaints.
Londoner Dawn Harverson, who struggles with writing, says that it's been tremendously helpful, particularly as organizations have shut down other ways of voicing a complaint.
So, um, in the past, you'd be able to pick up the phone and speak to somebody a- a- and possibly go through points of what the issue was on the phone, and they could ma- possibly do something about it.
And so somebody who's neurodivergent or, or, or intimidated by the written word for whatever reason will, will just, will simply not complain.
So maybe this, this surge is, is actually all these people who, who've, who've not felt enabled before, and, and that's not really, um, a reason to complain about them having a voice now.
And if you look on social media, there are plenty of accounts of people around the world who, like Dawn, have found that AI enabled them to make a complaint, perhaps challenging a parking fine or a benefits decision, which they might otherwise have struggled to do.
People working for local councils in the UK welcome the ability of AI to help people complain, but they've also told us of a downside, that AI can generate unnecessarily long complaints quoting laws and regulations, and it's placing a big burden on their teams.
A representative of the Planning Officers' Society, which represents over three thousand local officials, told me that AI can generate legalistic complaints that look strong but turn out to be, quote, "Simply an amalgam of issues, policy or law, which is effectively a word salad drawn from the internet." Deborah Evans is the chief executive of Lawyers in Local Government, which represents over five thousand six hundred council lawyers.
Uh, the first, most obvious impact is the massive increase that councils have seen in complaints, um, as a result of AI being used to assist in the drafting of those complaints.
Now, that can be advantageous in the case of people, um, who are vulnerable or with special needs who really benefit from, um, the availability of AI to help them verbalize their complaint.
Um, however, it has also massively increased the number of trivial or unjustified complaints, um, which drives up volumes and then slows down the process, uh, needs further resource adding, which councils can barely afford, um, and then increases response time.
And, and that's because it's easier for people to complain, is it? And to produce a lengthy complaint.
It, it's very quick and easy, um, to then raise a complaint about something quite simple, maybe, um, a, you know, a quick service complaint that perhaps, um, you would've put...
If you were writing it yourself, it might've been one side of A4, um, about your bins not being emptied for a couple of weeks or, you know, whatever it may be.
Um, but when AI gets involved, the complexity and length of that complaint ramps up enormously.
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