Artificial intelligence (AI) could "democratise" the development application process and help ease the housing burden in the ACT, the developers of a new AI tool say.
Canberra-based start-up Urban Intelligence has created a Development Assessment Artificial Intelligence System, or Daaisy, for short.
Founders Pierre Huetter and Adrian Makeham-Kirchner said they hope it will help the "average punter" navigate the ACT's complex planning laws.
"There's just so many documents and so much information you have to understand to make any kind of sensible submission," Mr Huetter said.
Daaisy is designed to function in the same question-answer format as mainstream AI tools like ChatGPT or Anthropic's Claude.
Users can ask questions directly to Daaisy about zoning, legislation and regulations and get written answers explaining the rules instantly.
Mr Huetter said Daaisy's "defined body of knowledge" makes it more effective than the more generalised AI tools, which early Urban Intelligence testing suggested would pull information from out-of-date legislation, or real estate agent websites.
Daaisy works exclusively within the framework of the ACT government's legislation, regulations and the Territory Plan. It has also been integrated with open-source geospatial data files, so users can ask questions about regulations that apply to their own address.
"[Planning rules] are virtually impenetrable to the non-specialists," Mr Makeham-Kirchner said.
"The language is different, the English language they use is quite different.
"We're effectively trying to simplify and democratise so the regular folk can go in and ask questions and understand what they need to do to get through a process."
Uncertain timeframes increase costs
Planning authorities across Australia are increasingly turning to AI to help ease housing supply pressures by streamlining approval processes.
In 2024, the NSW government awarded more than $2.7 million to councils to implement AI to speed up their planning processes. In Victoria, the Yarra Ranges Council created an AI tool to help homeowners create better applications during a shortage of planners in the area.
According to the Property Council of Australia, the average decision on development applications took 74 days in Canberra in February.
"Lengthy and uncertain timeframes increase holding costs, undermine feasibility and delay delivery, particularly for well-located multiunit projects," Property Council ACT and capital region executive director Ashlee Berry said.
"AI has the potential to support better outcomes by reducing duplication, improving consistency and helping planning authorities focus resources where they add the most value - shortening the path from application to approval without compromising governance or quality."
Ms Berry, who will moderate the Property Council's panel on using AI to accelerate the development approvals on Thursday, March 26, said timeframes remain a key issue for Canberra's development industry.
"If we want approvals to translate into more homes on the ground, we need faster, clearer and more consistent systems and that's where this technology has real potential," she said.
Future of AI in ACT development applications
Daaisy is just the first step for Urban Intelligence. Mr Huetter and Mr Makeham-Kirchner want to build an AI program that will allow users to actually write their development applications.
Instead of a chat function, the tool would be a guided form they hope can be used in the ACT's eDevelopment application system.
"We think that will both discipline what people put in, help them put in the right stuff and help the government process it faster because they're getting better information in," Mr Huetter said.
Mr Huetter and Mr Makeham-Kirchner admit Daaisy is not foolproof. Like most AI tools, it will continue to improve as more people use it and provide feedback.
It was launched last week and is free for the public to use in the early stages.