The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has released the results of its Future Business of Architecture survey, with artificial intelligence at the centre of attention
The RIBA AI survey shows that a vast majority (88%) of architects feel that AI will be more important for their organisation’s business by 2035.
Many of these also felt that AI will be important for their business development, sustainability consultancy, and client asset management in the same time frame.
Traditional business tools will be less important
The data also suggested that architects believe traditional business tools, including marketing and project management, will become less important in the coming decade, being surpassed by AI.
Furthermore, 50% of the surveyed architects predicted that technology, including AI, will have a ‘transformational effect’ on the profession’s work, including at the concept design stage, and 51% felt the same for the manufacturing stage and construction stage.
The data suggest very strong sentiment in this direction, with only 10% of architects feeling that the briefing, concept design, and spatial coordination stages would not be affected by AI, digitalisation, and automation.
More information on the report can be found here.
“The ascendance of AI will lead to human relationships, communication skills, ethical decision-making and critical thinking”
Report co-author and RIBA director of publishing and learning content, Helen Castle, said: “It was fascinating to capture members’ views about AI and technology, how it’s influencing their day-to-day practice and how they see it evolving and changing the way they work in the future.
“The most interesting takeaway from the qualitative research was that, although architects feel that AI will become increasingly more important by 2035, they don’t believe that it will lead to a demise in the demand for soft skills and business development. Quite the reverse, in fact, the ascendance of AI will lead to human relationships, communication skills, ethical decision-making and critical thinking taking on even greater significance for the future business of architecture.”
RIBA president, Chris Williamson, said: “Like many in our profession, I suspect, I feel a mixture of excitement and trepidation about AI and its potential to radically change the business of architecture. I felt very much the same way when Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Computer-Aided Design (CAD) first started making an impact on the industry. Both tools seemed equally radical at the time but instead of diminishing architects’ role and value, they enhanced it.
“We need to consider the capabilities of AI seriously and be prepared to embrace the immense possibilities. I’m equally convinced that the research led insights and scenarios in this white paper are vital because they provide architects with the tools to harness AI in whatever form it may take in the next decade.”
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