June 28, 2023
This paid work is sponsored by TSP.
If you search online for common fears related to artificial intelligence, job loss due to AI may appear at the top of your search results.
Other times, you’ll see search results reminiscent of Hollywood blockbusters where the AI spirals out of control, causing widespread chaos and ethical dilemmas.
But rather than let fear of the unknown dominate and lead to inaction, TSP team members continue to learn about the current and future implications of AI.
Many staff members are participating in a three-part summer webinar series dedicated to the changing AI landscape in the architecture, engineering, and construction industries.
Architect Chase Kramer is TSP’s Design Director, a role focused on enhancing the company’s overall design and creative efforts.
“My favorite saying about AI and the building industry is that AI will not replace architects. Architects who know how to use AI will replace architects,” Kramer said. said Mr.
For example, you still need an architect to give your company headshot this fun AI twist.
Fun aside, Kramer said now is a good time to discuss not only the practical uses of AI, but also its ethical and moral implications.
“We want to be ready and know how to incorporate AI into processes and procedures appropriately and ethically to keep up,” he said.
Kramer sees AI as a useful tool that reduces the time it takes to generate ideas and improves productivity.
“The design process often has a tedious and iterative aspect where you need to come up with the best ideas as quickly as possible,” he said.
“With an AI platform, we can quickly understand the potential consequences of a design approach or an inspirational concept based on a few simple prompts, without having to first invest in the heavy lifting of detailed modeling ourselves. You can check it in. We just gave up all that effort because we found that the design solution didn’t work.” “
TSP has a subscription to a text-to-image based AI platform called Midjourney. Its primary use so far has been to help create inspirational images in early-stage conceptual projects before concrete architectural designs are developed. It has also been used for a little fun.
When the Budweiser and Clydesdales were in Sioux Falls earlier this month, Kramer used Midjourney to generate a photo and compare it to the actual photo. Kramer used the prompt “Budweiser in the Sioux Falls Convention Center parking lot his Clydesdale, photorealistic” for AI photography.
Actual Clydesdale in Sioux Falls:
Clydesdale generated by AI:
Using existing AI technologies will allow access to information that previously required extensive research, Kramer said.
“The simplest use of AI that people think of in the design world is text-to-image generation, or now text-to-video generation,” he said.
“This is great for testing exterior or interior design ideas for a space.”
Kramer added that AI also leverages cloud-based data, such as field terrain information and climate data overlays, to quickly facilitate better analysis and understanding early in a project.
The many positive impacts of AI include overall business efficiencies, such as reducing the time it takes to take meeting minutes, Cramer said.
“One potential future benefit is the availability of chatbots or virtual assistants that help team members find information from handbooks and procedures on demand,” said Kari Keysoe, Human Resources Manager at TSP. said Mr.
Despite common concerns about privacy and security, Kiesow is open to the positives that AI has to offer.
“On the HR side, we need to be careful with AI when it comes to tasks that can be subject to bias and ethical considerations, such as those in the recruiting space,” she said.
“I think there should be a balance between technology and human interaction in all things.”
Kramer believes AI is especially useful for mentorship for architects, and can bridge the gap between academia and on-the-job learning — valuable “lessons learned” that are usually only sedentary.
“What AI hopes is a conversational approach to better filtering data, but we’re not there yet,” he said.
“Instead of sifting through a checklist of ‘do this’ and ‘don’t do this’, normal research can be used to properly and quickly sift through the best strategies for a particular building type, material, assembly, or whatever. You can limit your time, which is necessary when you dive into something new.”
Kramer noted that chatbots already in development can adopt company standards and get more accurate desired results based not only on what the question is asked, but how it is asked.
No one knows where AI will lead us, but Cramer remains hopeful about the future of human architects.
“The designer’s most important role is to be a trusted advisor to the client, and in that sense to help elicit information from clients who may not necessarily be industry savvy,” he said. rice field.
“Right now, I don’t think AI will be able to extract and synthesize that information. It will lead to solutions.”
