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Lifestyle·The Trace·Model-prefilled trace·Published 2026-07-20

impact of AI app Spacelift designing gardens on the professional garden design market and practice

Source article: Chelsea flower show garden designers clash over use of AI

With glasses of champagne sipped among the peonies, Chelsea flower show is generally a friendly and genteel occasion. But this year, the secateurs have been drawn as gardeners clash over the use of AI in designing the exhibits. Matt Keightley, an award-winning designer who has created gardens for figures including Prince Harry, is using artificial intelligence to design his garden for the prestigious show, held at the Royal Hospital gardens in Chelsea, London, next week. He is launching a new app, Spacelift, whi…

TRV-2026-0332JournalismPermanent record — cite & verify
Trace impact reading

Contested: both sides are scored from claims and sources, not community votes.

P 52The P score combines the specificity and measured human impact of the grounded problem claim with the strength of this Trace’s cited sources.G 53The G score combines the specificity and measured human impact of the grounded gain claim with the strength of this Trace’s cited sources.
Chelsea flower show garden designers clash over use of AI

Publisher image: The Guardian.

The quick read

On 13 May 2026 The Guardian reported a dispute ahead of Chelsea Flower Show after award-winning designer Matt Keightley announced he would use artificial intelligence to design his exhibit and launch Spacelift, an app said to replicate garden designersa0 work. The app is to exhibit three full-sized gardens at the Royal Hospital gardens designed entirely by the platform.

The clash matters because it pits a claim of democratised access for UK homeowners priced out of professional design against concerns from the Society of Garden and Landscape Designers and individual designers about automation, job security, and loss of human creativity and accountability in creating living spaces. It remains uncertain whether the app will expand the market as its makers claim or erode demand for human designers.

Main points
  • Matt Keightley is using AI to design his garden for Chelsea and launching app Spacelift which can replicate work of garden designers and create spaces from scratch.
  • Spacelift is exhibiting three full-sized gardens at Chelsea designed entirely by the platform, including a rural scheme, urban balcony, and woodland wellbeing space with sauna.
  • Society of Garden and Landscape Designers chair Andrew Duff and other designers criticised the move as a betrayal and threat to human creativity and jobs.
Gain

AI app Spacelift designing full gardens at Chelsea is presented as expanding access for homeowners priced out of professional design and benefiting the profession with better-informed clients.

Problem

Professional garden designers warn that AI replicating their work to design Chelsea exhibits threatens their livelihoods and cannot replicate human insight and connection to place.

The rundown

The piece reports Spacelift will show three full-sized AI-designed gardens at the Royal Hospital gardens in Chelsea, London, next week, described as a rural-inspired scheme using reclaimed materials, a compact urban balcony garden, and a woodland-themed wellbeing space incorporating a sauna and cold shower.

It contrasts prior uses of AI at Chelsea, such as Tom Masseya0s 2025 garden where AI was used to track sensor data on growth, sap flow, soil conditions, air quality, and weather patterns, with the new use of AI as a0robot designersa0 doing surveys and designing gardens from scratch.

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