How Can AI Revolutionize Your AEC Projects and Help You Work Smarter?

Hello, Fellow Magicians!

In the last few weeks, we’ve dug into Graph ML and its applications in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industries. This week, I want to make a case for AI’s role in AEC.

For simplicity, I’ll refer to data science and machine learning practices collectively as AI. Still, it’s important to recognize that AI isn’t just one thing—it takes many systems working together to implement any AI solution.

The AEC industry has been slower than many to invest heavily in AI, and there are good reasons for this:

1. AEC is a highly regulated industry

2. AEC is primarily risk-averse

3. AEC products are hard to measure

4. Priorities in AEC shift from client to client

However, for companies ready to challenge the status quo—those looking to reclaim their time and fully realize their value—AI has a critical role to play.

How Can AI Add Value to AEC Firms?

I break down AI’s value in AEC into the following areas:

1. Automation and time savings

2. Improved product and impact tracking

3. Improved quality control

4. Institutional knowledge management

5. Deeper focus on design problems

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What Are the Best AI Use Cases for Automation in AEC?

Leverage AI for simple, repetitive tasks.

When you break down what designers spend their time on, so much of it is relatively simple, repetitive, and tangential to design—in other words, boring.

Great tasks to leverage AI for include:

• Labeling in Revit, such as family labeling.

• Coding floorplans for client-specific requirements.

If a task is:

• Time-consuming,

• Boring, and

• Repetitive,

…it’s likely something an AI system can handle. Imagine how much better your day would be without all that busywork.

How Can AI Speed Up Feedback Cycles in AEC Design?

Accelerate design feedback loops with AI models.

AEC often suffers from slow feedback cycles. Projects typically follow a straight line from design to analysis, with only the highest-budget projects able to iterate a few times before deadlines require finalization.

AI can help by introducing surrogate models trained to map new designs to expected simulation outputs. This reduces the time to evaluate designs from hours—or even weeks—to milliseconds.

With faster feedback cycles, designers can:

• Quickly test ideas and changes.

• Understand their impact on key metrics like cost, energy use, and indoor environmental quality.

How Can AI Improve Quality Control Processes in AEC?

Enhance QA/QC processes with automation and recommendations.

AI can improve quality control in AEC firms by:

1. Automating simple QA/QC tasks, like flagging unclear details in construction documentation to avoid costly litigation.

2. Recommending better alternatives, such as proposing safer or clearer design solutions.

AI also gives firms a way to integrate firm-wide initiatives—like sustainability or safety standards—directly into the design process.

How Can AEC Firms Use AI to Retain Institutional Knowledge?

Capture and retain expertise with AI-driven models.

When trained on internal data, AI systems encode institutional knowledge into their models.

For example:

• A large language model trained to answer architectural questions preserves the expertise of retiring designers for future use.

• A floor plan generation model maintains the firm’s unique style over time, even as staff changes.

AI ensures that critical knowledge remains accessible, evolving with the firm.

How Does AI Help AEC Designers Focus on Complex Challenges?

Free up designers to tackle meaningful and creative design problems.

By automating repetitive tasks and improving QA/QC, AI allows designers to focus on more challenging and meaningful work. These are often the tasks that AI cannot solve, but designers love to spend their time on.

It’s a win-win: improved productivity and increased job satisfaction.

These are just a few of the value areas where AEC firms can leverage AI. If you’ve made it this far, consider subscribing to the newsletter! We discuss AI applications, technology, and practices in detail every week.

Thanks for reading!