Introducing Smartbox Gen 2: disclosure you can defend

Today we're announcing Smartbox Gen 2, the next generation of the Smartbox platform.

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. Redaction is the easy part. Most tools help with the third step. Gen 2 is built for the fourth, because that is the one a regulator, a tribunal, a court or an inquiry will test.

What's in Gen 2

• 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.

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.
• 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".
• Inquiries reach further. The terms of reference of the Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs reach local authorities, police, health and education.
• 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 (ICO data security incident trends).

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. Apply for early access.

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

For a short overview of what Gen 2 does and how it would work for your obligations, get the Gen 2 briefing.