Organisation type
Local Public Administration
The problem
The tool writes a reasoning paragraph that sounds official, with an article number that looks right but has nothing to do with the facts of the file. Nobody checks it because it looks familiar, and the administrative decision becomes open to challenge.
27 courses · 2 specific to this profession
A process from your work
How long does it take you to write up case notes after meeting a resident?
- Step 1With the person's knowledge, the tool transcribes the meeting and drafts the case notes.
- Step 2You compare the notes with what was said and correct anything the person did not say.
- Step 3The assessment and the decision on the case stay with the responsible officer.
- Where the tool goes wrongThe notes can add statements the person never made and assessments that are not yours.
- The verification stepFind in the transcript where each statement about the person's circumstances was said.
More: what was measured and the full check
What changed, as measured
Early pilot results reported that the tool cut note-taking time by 50%, with officers rating it 4.5 out of 5.
Who was measured: Probation officers in pilot areas of England and Wales, using AI transcription and summaries for supervision meetings.
The caveat: An early figure in a government plan, without a published method or sample; probation officers, not municipal staff.
The check, step by step
- Read the notes before saving them and mark every sentence you do not recognise from the meeting.
- For every statement about the person's circumstances, find the moment in the transcript where it was said.
- Remove any assessment or label the tool added that you did not make.
- Save the notes only with your name and the date of the check.
The course covers citizen requests, correspondence and registers with AI, and checking the text it generates, with the decision left to the official.
We can help you with this process: “Local government AI: Operations, documents and services”, 8 hours.
A documented failure pattern
The reason for the request: required by the draft, not by the law
- What the tool doesA draft reply to a request for information, written by an AI tool for the municipal officer who handles correspondence with citizens.
- Where the tool goes wrongThe draft makes the citizen explain the reason for the request, a condition the law excludes.
- The verification stepFind the article allowing everything asked of the citizen; remove whatever has no article.
More: why it is easy to miss and the full check
Where the tool goes wrong, and why it is easy to miss
The municipality sets the citizen a condition that the law rules out: to explain the reason for the request, which is exactly what Article 3 says nobody is obliged to explain. The tool has confused clarifying the content, which Article 12 allows when a request is unclear, with the reason for the request, and has made it a condition for processing. The request already contains every element of Article 11, point 4, so there is nothing to clarify. An officer signing replies in bulk sees a formality: the draft confirms registration, is polite and asks for a clarification, like any proper reply.
The check that catches it
- Before sending, underline in the draft everything the citizen is asked for (a document, an explanation, a deadline, a payment) and find, for each, the article of Law no. 119/2014 that allows it. Anything without an article is removed.
- Compare the request with the list in Article 11, point 4 (name, address, description of the information, format). If these are present, the request is complete and nothing else is asked of the citizen.
- Ask for clarification only when it is unclear which information is requested, as Article 12, point 1 provides, and ask about the content of the information, never about the reason for the request.
- Give the tool a reply template your institution has approved, and ask it to fill in only the template's fields, adding no conditions.
Where the failure pattern is documented: An investigation by The Markup into New York City's official chatbot (March 2024, follow-up January 2026); the UK Government's AI Playbook for public administration (February 2025).Sources: The Markup, 2024; The Markup and THE CITY, 2026; UK Government Digital Service, 2025.The case above is ours, written for work in Albania; the laws it names were checked against the official text.
What it looks like
The citizen's requestI request copies of the road maintenance contracts the municipality signed in 2025. I would like them in electronic form, at this email address.
The AI tool's draftYour request has been registered. So that we can process it, please explain to us for what purpose you need the information and how you will use it.
Law no. 119/2014, Article 3, point 1"Every person has the right to know public information, without being obliged to explain their reasons."
Translated from the Albanian original.
Courses for this type of organisation
Local government AI: Orientation and decision boundaries
Local government AI: Operations, documents and services
What you leave with
The reasoning test is run on the draft decision before signature: does each sentence refer to the facts of this file, is each reference found in the text in force. The trail beside it keeps what the tool proposed and what the official changed.
Local Public Administration
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