What Would Happen If Artificial Intelligence Ran Newcastle?

What would happen if artificial intelligence was handed the keys to Newcastle and told to make the city better?

We decided to find out.

ChatGPT is used every day to answer questions, write computer code, explain complicated subjects and help people solve problems. But we gave it a rather different challenge: If you were in charge of Newcastle, what new laws, rules or regulations would you introduce?

The answer ranged from tougher action against fly-tippers and rogue landlords to changes affecting pavement parking, noisy neighbours, housing developments and Newcastle's nightlife.

Some ideas would require powers beyond those available to a local council, so this is not a ready-made manifesto Newcastle City Council could simply adopt tomorrow. But several of the problems identified by AI are already major subjects of enforcement, consultation and debate across the city.

AI wants Newcastle to get tougher on rubbish.

One of ChatGPT's first targets was litter and fly-tipping. Its proposed system would use escalating penalties for repeat offenders, while potentially allowing those unable to pay to complete supervised community clean-up work instead.

It turns out Newcastle already takes waste enforcement seriously.

Newcastle City Council says that in the 11 financial years to March 2025 it brought 1,869 prosecutions and issued 2,418 fixed penalty notices for waste crimes. Those cases resulted in more than £826,000 in fines and penalties, 4,670 hours of community payback and even custodial sentences.

The council separately recorded 2,704 fixed penalty notices for littering during 2024/25, alongside 76 for waste deposits.

It is not merely a Newcastle problem. Defra recorded 1.26 million fly-tipping incidents dealt with by English councils during 2024/25, up 9 per cent on the previous year. Around 62 per cent involved household waste.

ChatGPT's proposal, therefore, would strengthen an enforcement approach that already exists rather than starting from scratch.

Dangerous driving and pavement parking would be targeted.

Cars were next on the AI hit list, although ChatGPT stopped short of suggesting motorists should simply be pushed out of Newcastle.

Instead, it proposed tougher action against street racing, excessively noisy vehicles and motorists repeatedly using residential roads dangerously. It also highlighted dangerous use of electric bikes and motorbikes where riders put pedestrians at risk.

Pavement parking would face greater scrutiny too.

Under the AI proposal, enforcement would focus particularly on vehicles positioned in a way that forces wheelchair users, mobility scooter users or parents with pushchairs into the road.

That accessibility argument also appears to reflect concerns Newcastle residents have raised themselves.

More than 1,300 individuals and organisations participated in consultation on Newcastle's Movement Strategy, with improved public transport, road safety and accessibility for disabled people among the priorities identified. Almost 80 per cent of respondents agreed with the proposed strategy's overall vision.

A new standard for Newcastle landlords.

Housing produced some of ChatGPT's most substantial suggestions.

It proposed a "Newcastle Rental Standard" requiring rented homes to have functioning heating, adequate security and reasonable insulation, with serious damp, mould and repair problems addressed promptly.

Persistent rogue landlords would face escalating enforcement.

The rental market is particularly relevant in Newcastle. Census 2021 found 22.8 per cent of households in the city were privately rented, up from 19.1 per cent a decade earlier. Another 27.3 per cent were socially rented.

ChatGPT also proposed greater accountability for landlords and agents managing houses in multiple occupation and student properties.

Rather than blaming students for neighbourhood problems, the idea would place greater responsibility on those managing properties when issues such as overflowing rubbish, neglected buildings or recurring serious nuisance are not properly addressed.

Newcastle nightlife would be protected, not restricted.

Anyone expecting AI to impose an early bedtime on the Toon might be surprised.

ChatGPT said Newcastle's nightlife should be protected, with well-run pubs, bars and clubs allowed to operate without unnecessary interference.

Its tougher approach would be reserved for venues repeatedly associated with serious violence, dangerous overcrowding or disorder, using licensing conditions and ultimately suspension where legally appropriate.

It took a similar position on noisy neighbours.

An occasional party would not be the target. Persistent excessive noise during unsociable hours, particularly following repeated warnings, would.

Recent Newcastle figures suggest antisocial behaviour is moving in the right direction. Newcastle City Council reported that city-centre antisocial behaviour fell 14.7 per cent following the launch of its City Safe project, while alcohol-related ASB fell 33 per cent and noise complaints dropped 19 per cent. The figures covered the financial year ending March 2025.

Developers would be expected to give something back.

ChatGPT also turned its attention towards Newcastle's changing skyline.

It argued that significant new housing developments should make meaningful contributions towards the infrastructure needed by growing communities, including schools, healthcare capacity, public transport, green spaces and safer walking and cycling connections.

It also favoured using previously developed brownfield land where practical instead of unnecessarily losing green space.

Long-term empty homes and prominent neglected commercial buildings would face stronger pressure too, with owners encouraged through whatever lawful incentives and enforcement powers were available to renovate, sell, rent or redevelop them.

The principle was simple: land and buildings in a growing city should not be allowed to deteriorate indefinitely when they could potentially serve a useful purpose.

Better alternatives to driving would come first.

Rather than making driving deliberately difficult, ChatGPT said Newcastle should concentrate on making the alternatives genuinely attractive.

Its imaginary transport programme included better bus priority, safer crossings and connected cycling infrastructure.

There was an important qualification. Restrictions on motorists should not be introduced simply for the sake of discouraging cars where residents have no practical alternative.

Again, there is some overlap with Newcastle's real transport debate. The city's Movement Strategy consultation found residents highlighting public transport, road safety, accessibility, congestion, air quality and opportunities for walking and wheeling.

AI would put Newcastle's rules on trial too.

Perhaps ChatGPT's most unusual proposal was aimed at the people making the rules.

It suggested major new council regulations should carry a five-year expiry date.

At that point, officials would have to demonstrate that a rule was producing worthwhile results. Ineffective or obsolete regulations could then disappear instead of remaining indefinitely simply because nobody had revisited them.

The AI also wanted greater transparency around enforcement. It suggested publishing figures showing how many fines were issued, what they were for, how many were successfully challenged and how revenue was used.

Interestingly, Newcastle already publishes annual figures for environmental fixed penalty notices, meaning there is an existing foundation for at least part of that transparency proposal.

Would Newcastle residents actually vote for these ideas?

Taken together, ChatGPT created a Newcastle that would be stricter on behaviour causing direct problems for other people but comparatively reluctant to regulate harmless everyday activity.

Fly-tippers, persistent nuisance neighbours, dangerous drivers and seriously neglectful landlords would receive less tolerance. Ordinary residents having friends around, enjoying Newcastle's nightlife or simply going about their lives would largely be left alone.

Not every suggestion is new and not every proposal could legally be introduced by Newcastle City Council without wider changes to legislation.

But perhaps that makes the experiment more interesting. Several priorities selected by artificial intelligence closely resemble issues Newcastle residents, businesses and public authorities are already dealing with.

ChatGPT did offer one final proposal that would be considerably harder to put into legislation.

Before introducing any major new rule, it suggested Newcastle's politicians should first have to explain it to a room full of Geordies.

If they could convince that audience, the AI reckoned they might be onto something.

Share your thoughts.

Which of these AI Newcastle policies would you introduce first?