Global watch: the ICO publishes guidance on AI-generated FOI requests

The UK Information Commissioner's Office published guidance on 6 May 2026 to help public authorities handle Freedom of Information requests involving or generated by AI systems, focused on the rising volume of AI-generated requests and how existing FOI principles apply to them. The ICO is the Commonwealth's precedent-setter, and its frameworks routinely surface in Kenyan, Nigerian and South African regulatory guidance within a few quarters. African public authorities and their AI vendors should read this one as a preview of local obligations, not foreign news.