Auto-generated description: A comparison between stacks of annotated, crumpled documents and a cleaner, structured digital map is shown, highlighting efficient digitization.

This is on a Google blog, so it foregrounds the use of their Gemini AI model in a new tool called Extract, built by the UK Government’s AI Incubator team. I should imagine that they’d be able to switch Gemini out for any model that has “advanced visual reasoning and multi-modal capabilities.” At least, I’d hope so.

So long as there is some kind of expert-in-the-loop, I think this is a great use of AI in public services. Planning in the UK, as I should imagine it is in most countries, is outdated, awkward, and slow. Speeding things up, especially if it allows multiple factors to be considered automatically, is a great idea.

A couple of years ago, I pored over technical documents I didn’t understand, feeding them into LLMs to try and figure out whether or not to buy a house by a river that had previously flooded, but now had flood defences. I was not an “expert-in-the-loop” but instead a “layperson-in-the-loop.” There’s a difference.

Traditional planning applications often require complex, paper-based documents. Comparing applications with local planning restrictions and approvals is a time-consuming task. Extract helps councils to quickly convert their mountains of planning documents into digital structured data, drastically reducing the barriers to adopting modern digital planning systems, and the need to manually check around 350,000 planning applications in England every year.

Once councils start using Extract, they will be able to provide more efficient planning services with simpler processes and democratised information, reducing council workload and speeding up planning processes for the public. However, converting a single planning document currently takes up to 2 hours for a planning professional – and there are hundreds of thousands of documents sitting in filing cabinets across the country. Extract can remove this bottleneck by accelerating the conversion with AI.

As the UK Government highlights, “The new generative AI tool will turn old planning documents—including blurry maps and handwritten notes—into clear, digital data in just 40 seconds – drastically reducing the time it takes planners.”

Using modern data and software, councils will be able to make informed decisions faster, which could lead to quicker application processing times for things like home improvements, and more time freed up for council staff to focus on strategic planning. Extract is being tested with planning officials at four Councils around the country including Hillingdon Council, Westminster City Council, Nuneaton and Bedworth Council and Exeter City Council and will be made available to all councils by Spring 2026.

Source: The Keyword