The Planning Inspectorate has begun to explore the potential for AI tools for a number of purposes, a Government minister has told Parliament.
Housing and Planning Minister Matthew Pennycook, provided the information in response to a question from Conservative MP Sir John Hayes.
He said that in the past 12 months the inspectorate has investigated the use of AI tools to support in the redaction of the data and documents it publishes, to create visualisations and extract insights from data about casework for internal staff use, and run the first phase of internal testing of Microsoft CoPilot tools. The latter is aimed at assessing their impact and ensuring appropriate security measures are in place.
It has also set up an AI governance board in line with the Government’s Generative AI Framework, and issued guidance on use of AI in casework evidence.
The latter places an emphasis on transparency in the use of AI, including declaring when it has been used in the body of the content it has created or altered.
