Medway's new AI search served up stale answers in its launch week

April 2026 — Medway Council's new AI search gave out-of-date answers about local politics in the week it launched. Here's what launched, what it cost, and what went wrong.

Cost and outcome (as of April 24, 2026)

Outcome: in early testing, the search named a former MP and a dead councillor as current officeholders. (Local Authority)
Council's response: "where issues have been flagged, we have been able to deliver fixes within hours," a spokesperson said. (Local Authority)
Stated goal: "reducing avoidable calls and emails" to customer service. (Medway Council)
Cost: not disclosed.

What launched

Medway Council announced on April 15 that it had launched a new AI-powered search bar on its website, known as Agent Ex. Residents can type questions or use voice commands, and the search bar can translate more than 70 languages, the council said. It was developed by Jadu and is part of the council's digital transformation project, Medway 2.0.

"We expect this will also have the added benefit of reducing avoidable calls and emails our hardworking customer service team deal with," said Cllr Alex Paterson, the portfolio holder covering digital services.

The council said the tool "does not have access to personal data, and only uses publicly available content from our website."

Jadu said Medway was the second organisation to launch the product. Agent-Ex: Search "is designed to go beyond traditional search, helping people get clear, accurate answers quickly," said Paul Stanton of Jadu.

What the search got wrong

Local Authority, an independent Medway news outlet, tested the tool in its launch week. Some routine service questions were fine, it reported. "But move into democratic information, and things got ropey fast."

Asked who the opposition was at Medway Council, the search said Labour were the opposition and the Conservatives the ruling party, Local Authority reported. It identified Rehman Chishti as the MP for Gillingham and Rainham, despite his losing the seat in 2024. It returned Nick Bowler as a councillor, despite his death in 2021.

Asked about former council leader Alan Jarrett, it surfaced his personal contact details, the outlet reported.

What the council said

The council told Local Authority the tool had been pulling information from old election results pages. That led to errors when questions were phrased in certain ways or asked about specific names rather than more general topics. The wording of a question can influence which pages the system draws from, it said.

The Jarrett details came from the website's "Find a public speaker" section, where they were publicly available and included at the request of the people listed, the council said.

The system had been tested before launch with more than 1,250 questions or statements and 210 keywords, the council said, and a cross-party member group was also involved in testing.

"As with many launches, we have seen some initial teething problems, but remain confident that the search function is safe and reliable," a Medway Council spokesperson told Local Authority.

The outlet reran the same queries and reported that they "now appear to be fixed." The council said each answer carries a warning that AI can make mistakes, along with source links.

What went wrong

Old pages fed new answers. The council said the tool drew on old election results pages.
Phrasing changed the answer. The council said the wording of a question can influence which pages the system uses.
What we don't know yet: what the tool costs, how many wrong answers residents received before the fixes, and whether old pages have been removed or excluded.

Our follow-up question for Medway Council

Has the council removed or excluded out-of-date pages from what the search can draw on?

Sources

Medway Council, “Medway launches AI powered website search tool,” April 15, 2026. medway.gov.uk
Jadu, “Jadu celebrates Medway Council going live with AI‑powered website search,” April 15, 2026. jadu.net
Local Authority, Ed Jennings, “Medway's new AI search fell over almost immediately,” April 17, 2026 (updated April 24, 2026). localauthority.news
TheBusinessDesk.com, “Leicester-based Jadu sold in £19m deal,” Dec. 10, 2025. thebusinessdesk.com

Disclosure: [not in copy] Editor placeholder