[eluser]NotoriousWebmaster[/eluser]
@pickupman: thanks for the very prompt reply.
No, I'm on an older version of CI and upgrading is not an option at this time.
But I think I've found a solution on the jQuery UI side: source now allows a callback function, in which you can do the AJAX call yourself. I'm just a little confused about the response parameter of the callback function.
Ah, no. I think I understand now: you pass it the returned data and that's where autocomplete picks up again.
Thanks again for your helping hand!