AI deciphers million-word housing plan responses

ARTIFICIAL intelligence has been harnessed by a Devon council to read more than 1.1 million words of feedback over the prospective development of nearly 21,000 homes.

- BRADLEY GERRARD Local Democracy Reporter

Comments by residents which combined are twice the length of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace relate to a significant strategy that will decide how many homes will be built in East Devon out to 2042 and, crucially, where they will be located.

East Devon District Council put its draft local plan, which it is required to create under government legislation, out for consultation earlier this year, and now it is reviewing the more than 3,500 responses from residents.

A report prepared for the council's strategic planning committee, which is due to meet next week to discuss the feedback, revealed that artificial intelligence or AI had been employed to assess comments from members of the public.