Staff warns of automated public-records requests and AI-driven inquiry activity

Staff reported that at a recent conference she learned of bots that automatically generate public-records requests and then follow up with additional queries; she said the town is receiving increased volumes of such requests and must still process them and apply redactions where required. Staff noted that some software vendors now offer tools to identify likely bot-generated requests and to use AI to triage or pre-answer certain requests, but redaction and legal review will still be necessary in many cases.