UK Government Peatland AI Map Reportedly Misidentifies Granite and Quarries as Peat
The UK government's AI-generated peatland map, released in May 2025 with claims of 95% accuracy, reportedly misidentified granite outcrops, quarries, stone walls and trees as peat across multiple regions. Local residents and farmers reported widespread inaccuracies that could lead to wasted effort and poor policy decisions.
What happened
The UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs released an AI-generated map of England's peatlands in early May 2025, claiming 95 per cent accuracy. Local residents and farmers subsequently reported widespread misidentifications, including granite outcrops, quarries, stone walls, hedges and trees marked as peat.
Reported impact
Farmer Cat Frampton reported that rocky fields on her Dartmoor property were marked as containing 87cm of degraded peat, and that areas shown as bare peat corresponded exactly to dry stone walls, hedges and trees on real maps. An AI expert warned that policy decisions made based on the inaccurate map could cause wasted effort.
Index analysis
The misidentifications reportedly occurred across multiple regions including Devon, Shropshire and the Lake District, with the system confusing woods, stone and walls with peatland.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
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