SDNY COURTHOUSE, July 8 – On July 7,
the Texas Attorney General's Office told Inner City Press,
in writing, that its Consumer Protection Division had
located 66 consumer complaints about artificial
intelligence companies and 7 about data centers, and
offered: "We can provide a spreadsheet of these complaints
at no charge."
Inner City Press accepted the same day.
On July 8 came a different letter from the
same office, and the same Assistant Attorney General. No
spreadsheet. Instead: a $648 cost estimate for the
complaint files, a demand for payment by bond, and notice
that the request "will be withdrawn by operation of law"
if payment is not received by July 22.
The free spreadsheet, offered and accepted
twenty-four hours earlier, went unmentioned. Then there is
footnote 1: "upon receipt of payment, the OAG will request
a ruling to withhold additional confidential and
privileged information not included in this cost
estimate." That is: pay $648 for 2,172 pages, after which
the Attorney General's office will ask the Attorney
General's office — the same office that rules on all Texas
public information withholding requests — for permission
to withhold an unspecified portion of what was just paid
for. The office's letter also invokes a provision
requiring that all requestors be treated "uniformly
without regard to... the status of the individual as a
member of the media" — answering an argument Inner City
Press did not make.
Inner City Press requested a waiver
under Government Code § 552.267, which permits waiver
whenever release "primarily benefits the general public" —
a provision the OAG's letter does not address at all. The
records at issue are Texans' own complaints to their
Attorney General about AI chatbots and about data centers,
whose grid and water demands are among the most contested
issues in the state.
Texans who complained to his office about
AI harms might reasonably ask why a journalist must post a
bond to read what they said — and why the list that was
free on Monday costs $648 on Wednesday. Other states are
behaving differently.
As simply one contrast, Washington State's
Attorney General is producing complaint records to Inner
City Press on a rolling basis at no charge — records that
included a consumer's complaint about an airline booking
site's AI chatbot cancelling her trip.
Inner City Press has responded to the
Texas OAG in writing, keeping the request alive, accepting
anew the no-charge spreadsheet, and renewing the
public-interest waiver. Watch this site.
Inner City Press covers public
records and AI accountability nationally. Contact:
matthew.lee@innercitypress.com.
