Smartbox Gen 2
Disclosure you can defend.
Redaction is the easy part. Gen 2 is built for the step that decides whether a disclosure survives challenge — proving what was withheld, why, and who decided.
Now
Briefings, and applications for the early adopter programme
Where we areEnd of October 2026
Early adopter programme begins
January 2027
General availability
Why Gen 2
Every disclosure obligation runs the same four steps over the same material: find everything responsive, decide what must be withheld, redact it, and prove you did it correctly and completely. Most tools help with the third step. Gen 2 is built for the fourth — the one a regulator, a tribunal, a court or an inquiry will test.
How it works
Different regimes. The same four steps.
What changes between regimes is the rule for withholding and the clock. The work is the same.
- 01
Discover
Bring in everything that might be responsive — mailboxes, file shares, forensic images, scans and recordings — with its source recorded.
- 02
Decide
Your reviewers decide what is withheld. Every mark carries its legal basis and the name of the person who decided.
- 03
Act
Redactions are burned into a new copy, not drawn over it. The original is never altered.
- 04
Prove
Every step is written to a hash-chained record, so you can show what was released, what was withheld, why and by whom — years later.
What's in Gen 2
Everything a disclosure needs to stand up later, built in.
Hash-chained lifecycle
Every lifecycle event is written to an append-only, hash-chained ledger, and every redaction is recorded with its reviewer and the document hash.
A reason on every mark
Every redaction carries its legal basis — the exemption or exception — from a library you control.
Checked before release
Finalised copies are re-read and checked against what you chose to redact.
One way out
Nothing leaves except through one release point, with approval wherever your workflow requires it.
Sealed productions
Productions are numbered across volumes, watermarked, and sealed with a hashed manifest.
Governed workflows
Workflow changes need a second administrator to publish. Legal holds block deletion and release. Statutory clocks record why they paused.
Recordings
Transcribe and redact video, body-worn video and CCTV. Redact sound and picture separately, and follow a moving subject.
Deterministic by design
No generative model decides what is withheld, and the same input always gives the same result.
Support only with your approval
Support staff reach your environment only with your approval, and every access is logged.
See Gen 2
Real screens from the Gen 2 build, working on publicly available material.
Video redaction
Redact video, body-worn video and CCTV. Sound and picture are separate lanes, and a redaction follows a moving subject.
Dashboards you build
Build dashboards from live data with the metric builder, and freeze any view as a PDF report. Figures say what they exclude.
Highlighting you can review
Possible personal data is highlighted in place, coloured by type, for a reviewer to decide on.
Comments and blockers
Leave notes on a case or a document and mention a colleague. A blocker stops the case advancing until someone resolves it.
Custody you can check
Every document carries its own custody history, and an integrity check re-derives the chain on demand.
Why now
Subject access is changing.
The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 makes clear that searches must be reasonable and proportionate, and the ICO says you must be able to show why a search is unreasonable or disproportionate. A duty to handle data protection complaints followed in June 2026.
Sources: Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, section 78 · ICO right of access guidance · ICO: new complaints law in force
Criminal disclosure is being modernised.
The government's July 2026 response to the independent review of disclosure expects AI used in disclosure to be ‘auditable, evidence based and capable of effective scrutiny’.
Source: Government response to the Independent Review of Disclosure and Fraud Offences (PDF)
Inquiries reach further.
The terms of reference of the Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs reach local authorities, police, health and education.
Source: Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs: terms of reference
Failure to redact is rising.
Failure-to-redact incidents reported to the ICO rose from 333 in April to December 2019, when its data starts, to 886 in 2025.
Join the early adopter programme
From the end of October 2026, a small group of organisations will run real disclosure work on Gen 2, ahead of general availability in January 2027.
- Who it's for
- Teams with a live disclosure workload — subject access, FOI and EIR, inquiries, criminal or civil disclosure, or health records — who want to shape Gen 2 before it's generally available.
- What you get
- Early use of Gen 2, onboarding with the people who built it, and a direct line into what we build next.
- What we ask
- Regular feedback and, if you're happy with the results, a reference.
Places are limited. Tell us about your work and we'll reply within one working day.
Already use Smartbox?
Your account team will brief you on Gen 2 and plan your move with you. Ask them for a briefing, or email info@smartbox.ai.
Get the Gen 2 briefing
A short overview of what Gen 2 does and how it would work for your obligations.
Questions about Gen 2
What is Smartbox Gen 2?
The next generation of the Smartbox platform, built around proving each disclosure. Every redaction carries its reason and reviewer, every release goes through one checked release point, and every step is recorded in a hash-chained ledger.When is Gen 2 available?
Early adopter programme: from the end of October 2026. General availability: January 2027.Can I see Gen 2?
Apply for the early adopter programme, or get the briefing and we'll invite you as soon as demonstrations open.I already use Smartbox. What happens to my account?
Your account team will brief you on Gen 2 and plan your move with you.Does Gen 2 use AI to decide what is redacted?
No. Detection proposes; a named person decides. No generative model decides what is withheld, and the same input always gives the same result.Where is my data processed?
In the UK.Does Gen 2 work alongside our review platform?
Yes. Smartbox can sit beside your review platform as the redaction, release and publication layer.How is Gen 2 priced?
A platform subscription plus credits for processing, on an annual agreement. Ask us for a budget estimate.
Start now. Go live on Gen 2.
Choosing and approving a disclosure platform takes time. Start the conversation now, and plan your move around general availability in January 2027.