The BaseNewsThe Guardian
AI bots flooded 2023 UK government consultation on disposable vapes ban
According to the excerpt, The Guardian reports on research finding that three-quarters of responses to the UK's 2023 consultation on the tobacco and vapes bill were machine-generated, in what is thought to be the first coordinated attempt to use AI to derail health policymaking in the UK.
Why it matters
The same thing, for different readers.
What it means for you
Most responses to a UK government consultation on vapes were reportedly written by bots, so public input can be faked at scale.
For lawmakers
UK officials running consultations may need ways to detect machine-generated responses, which the research suggests swamped one in 2023.
The record
- Questions
- Who can demand evidence, delay a release or stop an unsafe deployment? · How is AI changing childhood, health and daily life?
- People
- Denis Campbell (Wrote it, Health policy editor)
- What we read
- We have read only the description the publisher gives. No quotations until someone reads the source itself.
- Found by
- The Radar, run of October 28, 2026, via
the-guardian-ai(tier 2: a major outlet’s own reporting) - Cite this
- The Guardian, “AI bots flooded 2023 UK government consultation on disposable vapes ban”, October 27, 2026. Entry in the Ctrl AI Base, https://ctrlai.com/base/guardian-2026-10-27-ai-bots-vapes-consultation
Our notesLight lane: not fetched. Who did the research and how is not in the excerpt.