UK financial ombudsman calls customers to check AI written complaints

In short: The UK Financial Ombudsman Service is using phone calls to confirm facts after more complaints appear to be written with AI and contain errors.

What's going on

The Financial Ombudsman Service, which settles disputes between customers and banks and insurers, says it is seeing more complaints that look like they were written using AI tools. These complaints can be very long and confidently written, but some include wrong details.

A common issue is “AI hallucinations”. That is when an AI system makes up information and presents it as true (like a student who sounds sure but invented the facts). In complaint letters, this can mean incorrect dates, missing context, or claims that do not match the customer’s actual account.

The ombudsman is responding by picking up the phone more often. The goal is to quickly check what really happened and to confirm what the customer wants. This can be faster than going back and forth through long written messages.

The Financial Times reports this is part of a wider problem. Public sector bodies and courts are being weighed down by tech assisted complaints and filings that are lengthy, inaccurate, or both.

What to watch

If more people rely on AI to draft complaints, organisations may add extra checks before a case moves forward. For consumers, the key point is that using AI to help write a complaint may still require careful editing and fact checking, especially for names, dates, and account details.

Source: Financial Times