UK Government and DeepMind Launch AI Tool to Fast-Track Housing Plans
At London Tech Week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer officially unveiled “Extract”, an innovative AI assistant, co-developed by the UK Government’s Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (iAI) and Google DeepMind.
What is Extract?
Extract, an AI-powered assistant powered by the advanced Gemini model, designed to modernize England’s planning system and accelerate the delivery of 1.5 million new homes under the Plan for Change.
How Extract Works?
Extract combines visual and language reasoning to scan complicated, paper‑based planning documents—including scanned maps, handwritten notes, and PDFs—and convert them into structured, geolocated digital data in under a minute.
Traditional processing takes up to 1–2 hours per document; Extract completes the task in roughly 40 seconds to three minutes, enabling planners to handle around 100 records per day.
Early Trials & Availability
Extract has already been trialled in several local councils, including Hillingdon, Westminster, Nuneaton & Bedworth, and Exeter, where it has demonstrated the ability to deliver fast and accurate results.
Building on the success of these early trials, the UK government plans to roll out Extract to all English local authorities starting in Spring 2026, with the goal of fully digitising all planning documents by the end of that year.
Purpose & Goals
Extract aims to streamline the UK’s planning system by reducing the 250,000 hours spent annually on manual document reviews.
It builds on a £59 million digital planning budget and is expected to save £527 million yearly.
By digitising data and making it publicly accessible on gov.uk, Extract boosts efficiency, transparency, and supports faster housing and infrastructure decisions.
News Gist
At London Tech Week, the UK government and Google DeepMind launched Extract, a Gemini-powered AI tool to digitise planning documents in minutes.
Aiming to speed up housing approvals, it’s expected to save £527 million annually and roll out nationwide by 2026.
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