Sydney’s Blacktown City Council is piloting an artificial intelligence (AI) system that it hopes will make development applications faster and less complex, especially for individual residents.
The generative AI tool is named DAISY and was introduced to address practical issues in local planning, a council spokesperson said. iT News: More than 80% of development applications received by Blacktown come from individual residents rather than professional developers.
According to a spokesperson, many applications are delayed because basic information and documents are missing at the time of application.
DAISY aims to assist you with questions about residential development, including the applicable estate planning regulations, the types of applications and documents required, and how to prepare for submission to the NSW Planning Portal.
It can be used for low-density housing developments, such as renovating resident homes and constructing secondary housing.
The AI system uses information and planning controls from the council’s Local Environment Plan (LEP), Development Control Plan (DCP) and NSW Environmental Protection Plan (SEPP).
Blacktown Council has warned that DAISY, as an AI assistant, can make mistakes and advised applicants with any questions to check with the council or refer to official documentation.
The council also said AI could only provide general guidance and that all final decisions would be made by local government officials.
DAISY was launched in January of this year and is still in its early stages, but a spokesperson said, “Initial usage data from the soft launch looks promising.”
“On average, we receive more than 450 questions about DAISY each week, and more than 60 development applications have been launched with DAISY support,” the spokesperson said.
A spokesperson said Blacktown City Council is currently considering early usage data and interaction levels, rather than drawing conclusions about long-term outcomes.
Funding for DAISY was provided by a $190,000 grant from the New South Wales Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure’s Artificial Intelligence in New South Wales Plan – Council Early Adopter Grant Program.
DAISY was developed by Sydney technology consultancy Gadali. Gadali partnered with Enterprise AI/Adaptovate, the owners of DAISY.
Gadali provided technical integration, including connecting DAISY to data sources such as Blacktown Council’s flood mapping, linking it to the NSW planning portal, and further integrating with local government websites.
DAISY is hosted on Microsoft’s Azure cloud, and the council said its data is not used to train third-party models.
