Environmental Assessment Service Implements AI to Speed Up Project Processing Without Staff Training

Original article: Revelan que SEA incorporó IA para acelerar tramitación de proyectos ambientales “sin capacitar a su personal”

Environmental Assessment Service Implements AI to Speed Up Project Processing Without Staff Training

The Environmental Assessment Service has introduced AI tools to expedite project processing but admitted that it had not trained its staff by the time of implementation.

The Environmental Assessment Service (SEA) announced in December that it had integrated Artificial Intelligence (AI) into environmental project evaluations as part of a technological plan to enhance service efficiency. This initiative includes the digitization of over 29,000 files and the deployment of tools like the «AI Comparator» and the «+AI Searcher», designed to «locate background information among millions of pages of projects submitted to the Environmental Impact Assessment System (SEIA)», according to the agency.

SEA director Valentina Durán explained that these changes aim for the «mass digitalization and structuring» of the projects reviewed by the agency. Meanwhile, Economy Minister Nicolás Grau projected that these tools would also facilitate the automation of citizen observation processes and promote «investment dynamism». The new technologies are specifically intended to «streamline project processing», providing more precise information during the analysis and presentation of initiatives.

However, a request for information made by Resumen.cl and OLCA, under the Transparency Law and published by J. Arroyo Olea, revealed that the service implemented these tools without properly trained personnel. In its response dated December 30, 2025, SEA stated that training «has not yet occurred; however, it is included in the institutional planning and will be scheduled for the first quarter of 2026, with the aim of supporting proper use of the tool by users».

This situation raises concerns in the context of increased deregulation that could be pushed by the incoming government, especially given that the agency did not specify full details about the technologies used, only mentioning that the +AI Searcher «was developed using OCR technology for transcribing all documents and supported by LLM-type Artificial Intelligence to enhance transcription quality».

For the complete publication with SEA’s response, follow the link at Resumen.cl.

Environmental Assessment Service Implements AI to Speed Up Project Processing Without Staff Training