Automated Agencies
The Transformation of Government Guidance

Automated Agencies is the definitive account of how automation is transforming government explanations of the law to the public.

Joshua D. Blank (Author), Leigh Osofsky (Author)

9781009347082, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 10 April 2025

229 pages
23 x 15.1 x 1.4 cm, 0.34 kg

'AI is the next great challenge for governance. Automated Agencies, written by two of the nation's leading scholars on the subject, does a masterful job of capturing the pitfalls in how administrative agencies use AI to provide legal guidance to the public and of charting a path forward that is fairer and more effective.' Christopher J. Walker, University of Michigan Law School

Automated Agencies is the definitive account of how automation is transforming government explanations of the law to the public. Joshua D. Blank and Leigh Osofsky draw on extensive research regarding the federal government's turn to automated legal guidance through chatbots, virtual assistants, and other online tools. Blank and Osofsky argue that automated tools offer administrative benefits for both the government and the public in terms of efficiency and ease of use, yet these automated tools may also mislead members of the public. Government agencies often exacerbate this problem by making guidance seem more personalized than it is, not recognizing how users may rely on the guidance, and not disclosing that the guidance cannot be relied upon as a legal matter. After analyzing the potential costs and benefits of the use of automated legal guidance by government agencies, Automated Agencies charts a path forward for policymakers by offering detailed policy recommendations.

Introduction
1. The rise of automated customer service
2. Automated legal guidance
3. Simplexity. the law in plain language
4. Simplexity in automated legal guidance
5. View from the inside. Interviews with federal agency officials
6. How automated legal guidance helps agencies and the public
7. The hidden costs of automated legal guidance
8. The democracy deficit
9. How should automated legal guidance evolve?
10. The future of agency communications
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: IT & Communications law [LNQ]