AI in the A/E/C: A Wake-Up Call

I'm not going to sugar-coat this: The architecture, engineering, and construction (A/E/C) industry is standing at a crossroads. Firms ignoring AI are losing ground.

Artificial intelligence is no longer a novelty. It is actively reshaping how projects are won, designed, priced, and built. The only question is whether firms will adapt in time.

I have worked with Central Oregon's best architects, landscape architects, builders, and engineers since launching the first rendition of my business in 2009. Back then it was the branding agency, Studio Absolute, which is now owned by my previous partner. Today I own Quanta Collectiv, where I work as an architectural photographer and A/E/C brand and marketing consultant. I help clients reach their business goals, which today also means employing AI for certain tasks. My main passion is architectural photography, but that is just one piece of a rapidly evolving puzzle. Now, 17 years later, I'm writing about something I never would have thought been possible back then.

The Threat Is Real

According to an ASCE Survey (March 2026), only 27% of AEC firms are actively using AI, but 94% of those adopters plan to scale up investment in 2026, creating a widening gap between early movers and the rest of the industry. Proposal writing that used to take a week is now being generated in hours. Renderings that required a dedicated visualization team can now be produced by a single designer in an afternoon.

The ethical dimension of this paradigm shift is one the industry can't afford to ignore. Firms that quietly eliminate junior roles to cut overhead while adopting AI may win short-term margin gains, but risk hollowing out their own talent pipeline. This is the same pipeline that produces tomorrow's associates and principals.

For firm leadership, framing AI as an ethical capacity multiplier means the firm can accomplish more as a team. And not simply in terms of volume produced.

With the time saved, firms can redirect their teams toward the high-value work that wins repeat business, like original creative and personal interaction with clients and partners. Questions worth posing to a team are, "What would you do if you had more time in your day? What are the great ideas you've had but never been able to explore or execute?" The wisdom of tenure is key to the long-term success of a firm, and staff retention has never been more important to the integrity of a brand and story. Firms that rely too much on AI or use it as an excuse to stop investing in their people will suffer when the novelty wears off and the playing field eventually equalizes under this new paradigm.

While the tech giants race toward building an AI that is smarter than humans, AI still relies on our intelligence to build its own. It researches what has already been done and doesn't generate original creative thought or new ideas. By refocusing a team's efforts on the things AI can't do, a firm amplifies the single most important thing that sets it apart from the competition: the real human minds that have written the company's story up to this point. Often in blood, sweat, and tears.

The Opportunity Is Enormous

The same forces driving disruption are also handing forward-thinking firms an extraordinary competitive advantage. Here are a few examples of time-saving AI tools and some things to consider about their very real human impact.

Proposal Writing

Tools like Shred.ai (a purpose-built AI proposal tool for AEC, powered by Anthropic's Claude) and Unanet ProposalAI can generate high-quality proposal drafts up to 70% faster (reportedly) than traditional methods. Joist AI builds a contextual "knowledge graph" from a firm's existing proposals, so the institutional voice and past project data automatically inform every new submission.

Shred.ai 2.0 (released January 2026) added a "Proposal Studio" and deeper AI chat integration, which nudges it toward more "agentic" behavior (agents described later), but it still functions primarily as a smart, purpose-built assistant that augments a human-led process.

For a firm's seasoned proposal writers, this is an opportunity to do the work that wins projects. A writer can invest that time in researching the client and tailoring approaches to the specific selection panel. They can take on more of a leadership role in defining the firm's visual narrative and crafting the kind of personalized cover letter that makes an evaluator feel seen. AI handles the scaffolding. The valued employee still builds what goes inside it.

Renderings and Visualization

With reportedly 44% of architects now using AI for concept imagery, the technology is becoming mainstream. Veras by EvolveLab integrates directly with Revit and SketchUp, transforming a live BIM model into photorealistic client renderings without breaking geometry. Midjourney excels at early-stage moodboards and visuals. Rendair AI and ArchiVinci sit in the middle and are ideal for fast client-facing images without the complexity of a full BIM workflow. Veras 4.0 even converts still renders into short walkthrough animations.

For the architectural photographer—like me—some clients may begin moving toward realistic AI technologies in lieu of professional photography. Real estate agents are already doing so for their listings (even staging!), but their drivers and audience are different than those of an architect or builder whose reputation depends on an OCD-level attention to accuracy and aesthetic detail.

Most photographers have been employing AI in post-production to remove distractions, but there is a world of capabilities that have even more time-saving applications for repetitive tasks. I primarily use AI with my pro subscriptions for Claude and Perplexity which are obscenely good at deep research and providing sources. The time it has freed up allows me to expand my service offerings into brand research and consulting through my other company, Candid Brand Discoveries.

Design Optimization

Platforms like ArkDesign.ai generate optimized schematic designs automatically, checking building code compliance and exploring multiple layout configurations. Autodesk AI, embedded across the Design and Make Platform, automates repetitive drafting tasks, pattern recognition, and model coordination.

The CAD technician role may be the most vulnerable position in a design firm's org chart. This means the role needs to evolve, and firms that invest in that transition will be rewarded with something far more valuable than a faster Revit model. Someone who deeply understands how buildings go together is exactly the kind of person who should be out in the field during design development, sitting across from a contractor during a constructability review, or working directly with the project team to pressure-test a layout before AI generates the next iteration.

The word that keeps popping into my head in writing this article is "nuance:" a uniquely human experience and understanding.

Let's say it's a proposal writer who remembered that the parks department had used the phrase "low-maintenance native plantings" in three consecutive RFPs, even though it never appeared in the formal evaluation criteria. They flagged it, the firm wove that language organically throughout their qualifications narrative and won a project they had no business winning on paper against two larger firms. AI cannot tell a firm that the real decision-maker cares about drought-tolerant fescue because she has a dead lawn at home. No competing firm's AI subscription can replicate that proposal writer, because they are worth far more than their job title.

What Are AI Agents and Why Should You Care?

A single AI agent can do the work of hundreds of people with families, house payments, and dreams.

A single AI agent can do the work of hundreds of people with families, house payments, and dreams.

Most people use AI for simple requests or goofy (and sometimes controversial) image generation. AI agents are something fundamentally different. An AI agent is an autonomous software system that sets sub-goals, uses external tools, and evaluates its own progress toward completing a complex task. Think of it as the difference between hiring someone to answer one email and hiring someone to manage an entire inbox while the principal is out in the field.

It sounds like science fiction, but it's very real. And it's eerie. I am teaching myself Claude Code (using a dedicated computer) which allows me to build agents and give each one a specific set of skills. For example, I could build an assistant that understands my production workflow and programs. It could organize all my photography files and archive them after delivering files (with a "personal" message to my clients). I could technically sit back and watch with morbid fascination and horror as the agent takes over my computer, opens applications, accesses my files, uses my passwords, and completes the end goal I gave it in a single, educated prompt.

Guys, I'm shook. This isn't a promo piece. This is a PSA because we've been working together a long time, and I truly want you to succeed. I want all of us to. The AI revolution is inevitable, but our response to it is not predetermined.

I have a confession to make. The other day I was at the bank after spending several hours in front of Claude Code. I was talking with one of the managers about a credit line but kept interrupting our meeting to rant unhinged about AI and how she needs to start learning it immediately; how the bank needed to double their cybersecurity protections. When you start digging into this stuff, it's both thrilling and honestly, deeply disturbing. I think she found it the latter. She had that look in her eyes like she might call for security. Oh well. You win some, you lose some.

I can help firms navigate this rapidly evolving digital landscape. Contact me today to set up a free consultation, and let's get on the road to ethical adoption.

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