A TORY MSP has denied using AI for £100,000 worth of "frivolous" Holyrood questions.
It was revealed yesterday that Douglas Lumsden submitted a staggering 987 written questions in January, reportedly costing around £100 each to answer.
It has been suggested that the MSP for North East Scotland used AI for the endeavour, which he has denied.
Written questions are used by MSPs to obtain information on Government and parliament for the public, but representatives are asked to exercise caution with the amount.
The amount Lumsden asked last month was more than half of the total asked by all 129 MSPs.
It included asking for the cost of electric hand dryers on the parliamentary estate, how many Scottish Parliament flags have gone missing over the last 10 years, and the average profit or loss on jars of honey sold in the Holyrood shop.
Kevin Stewart (below) said it was a “flagrant disregard for the taxpayers’ cash” and called for the Tory MSP to pay back the nearly £100,000 it will reportedly cost to answer his questions.
"Costing around £100 a pop, reports suggest Lumsden has cost the Scottish taxpayer £100k by using AI to ask nonsense questions about bees, straws and pepper sachets,” the SNP MSP added.
"In a cost-of-living crisis voters will rightly be asking what on earth he is up to.
"The Tory MSP appears to be making a joke of the situation online but it's actually no laughing matter.
"Will Douglas Lumsden apologise and pay back the cost for his AI generated frivolous? Or will the taxpayer be left to foot the £100,000 bill for Lumsden's capers?"
Lumsden, meanwhile, told The Scotsman that he didn't use AI but would "look at any new tools to hold the Government to account".
"So far these questions have discovered that there has been no growth of surgical training posts in the last ten years, no forensic pathologists based in Aberdeen, and the incident statistics on the A96," the Tory MSP said.
"They have also discovered the number of repairs at the toll of Birness, the cost of the overseas embassies, the number of signs and streetlights being replaced each year on the A90, the cost of Scottish Government electricity over five years, and the fleet size and value, and number of Teslas owned by the Scottish Government."
He added: "It is worth remembering that Monica Lennon and Jackie Baillie have both asked more questions than me this term. I will continue to ask questions to hold this rotten Government to account and won’t be silenced when it comes to standing up for the North East."
Baillie has asked 1887 questions since the most recent Holyrood elections in 2021, records show. Lumsden has asked 1066 in the first six weeks of 2025.
Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman, meanwhile, also hit out at Lumsden.
“If this claim is true, Mr Lumsden’s blatant use of AI to waste the Scottish Government’s time is not only a waste of taxpayers' money, but also an insult to his constituents and other MSPs," she said.
“Holding the government to account is a crucial part of being a Member of the Scottish Parliament. But it looks as though Mr Lumsden has abused that responsibility, using a generative AI programme not designed for political accountability and giving it unlimited access to government officials."
Chapman added: "I find it hard to believe that he or a staff member carefully crafted more than 31 questions every single day last month.
“Mr Lumsden needs to think whether it's an appropriate use of taxpayers’ money to do this. If he has used AI, I think it’s absolutely right that he apologises not just for wasting time and money but for using AI to do his job. Our constituents elected us to be their MSPs, they did not elect ChatGPT. The people of the North East deserve better than this.”
