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Incident 1159: Government‑Backed AI4Peat Mapping Tool Allegedly Misidentifies Granite Outcrops and Quarries as Peat

Description: The UK's AI4Peat mapping project, developed by Natural England in collaboration with Microsoft, reportedly produced significant misclassifications of peatland across England, including labeling rocky outcrops, stone walls, and woodlands as peat bogs. In addition to the purportedly flawed data being publicly released and allegedly incorporated into official communications by Defra, the resulting confusion also reportedly led to the loss of trust among farmers and conservation stakeholders.

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Alleged: Natural England and Microsoft developed an AI system deployed by Natural England , Government of the United Kingdom , Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Defra, which harmed Policymakers in the United Kingdom , Landowners in the United Kingdom , General public of the United Kingdom , Farmers in the United Kingdom , Environmental restoration programs in the United Kingdom , Conservationists in the United Kingdom and Epistemic integrity.
Alleged implicated AI system: AI4Peat

Incident Stats

Incident ID
1159
Report Count
1
Incident Date
2025-05-10
Editors
Dummy Dummy

Incident Reports

Reports Timeline

Incident OccurrenceGovernment’s AI peatland map ridiculed for confusing bog with rock
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Government’s AI peatland map ridiculed for confusing bog with rock

Government’s AI peatland map ridiculed for confusing bog with rock

thetimes.com

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Government’s AI peatland map ridiculed for confusing bog with rock
thetimes.com · 2025

Ministers have been left red-faced after unveiling the first AI-generated map of Britain's peatlands --- only to have it comprehensively debunked by the people who live in the areas.

Local residents have reported that the government's state…

Variants

A "variant" is an AI incident similar to a known case—it has the same causes, harms, and AI system. Instead of listing it separately, we group it under the first reported incident. Unlike other incidents, variants do not need to have been reported outside the AIID. Learn more from the research paper.
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