Book contents
- Automated Agencies
- Automated Agencies
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 The Rise of Automated Customer Service
- 2 Automated Legal Guidance
- 3 Simplexity
- 4 Simplexity in Automated Legal Guidance
- 5 View from the Inside
- 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
- Index
7 - The Hidden Costs of Automated Legal Guidance
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 April 2025
- Automated Agencies
- Automated Agencies
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 The Rise of Automated Customer Service
- 2 Automated Legal Guidance
- 3 Simplexity
- 4 Simplexity in Automated Legal Guidance
- 5 View from the Inside
- 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
- Index
Summary
This chapter illuminates some of the hidden costs of the federal agencies’ use of automated legal guidance to explain the law to the public. It highlights the following features of these tools: they make statements that deviate from the formal law; they fail to provide notice to users about the accuracy and legal value of their statements; and they induce reliance in ways that impose inequitable burdens among different user populations. The chapter also considers how policymakers should weigh these costs against the benefits of automated legal guidance when contemplating whether to adopt, or increase, agencies’ use of these tools.
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- Automated AgenciesThe Transformation of Government Guidance, pp. 121 - 143Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025