AI-designed gardens to debut at Chelsea Flower Show, designer calls it a 'betrayal'

Highlights

• Matt Keightley launches Spacelift app that designs gardens from scratch.
• Designer calls Chelsea platform for AI gardens "a betrayal" of the craft.
• App targets homeowners who cannot afford professional design services.

Matt Keightley, who has created gardens for figures including Prince Harry, is launching Spacelift, an app that creates garden plans without human designers. Three full-sized gardens at the Royal Hospital event will show how the technology works.

These include a country-style garden using reclaimed materials, a small urban balcony space, and a woodland area with a sauna.

"We're used to using technology to design every part of our homes except our gardens. Spacelift changes that," Keightley told The Guardian. The platform gives people a starting point and confidence to create outdoor spaces on their own.

However, the Society of Garden and Landscape Designers has strongly disagreed. Andrew Duff, the society's chair, said good garden design is an art form based on creativity, working together and human connection.

"While technology may offer useful tools, it cannot replicate the insight, empathy and personal engagement that comes from working with a skilled garden designer," he added.

Yvonne Price, who showed her work at RHS Hampton Court, called Chelsea's decision to include the AI garden "a betrayal". Designer Nadine Mansfield asked sarcastically what time the job centre opens.

Industry split grows

Tom Massey, a Chelsea gold medal winner, uses AI for tracking data in gardens but does not want automated design.

Last year he created a garden where sensors watched urban trees. AI spotted patterns in growth and soil conditions.

"I don't think many people would like the idea of robot designers," Massey told The Guardian. He warned that AI-designed gardens would miss the physical interaction with natural spaces that proper design needs.

Spacelift says the platform helps homeowners who cannot pay for professional designers rather than competing with the industry.

Alexandra Davison, head of partnerships, said users come to designers with clearer plans and realistic expectations, which could help professionals.

Duff said his organisation would work to show the value of human skills in creating thoughtful, sustainable gardens connected to people and place.