The rapid integration of artificial intelligence (hashtag#AI) across various industries has taken many people aback and alarmed them. People with non-physical professions, who felt their jobs were safe from automation, now have something to fear. hashtag#Architecture is among those industries and is now attempting to react to the latest technological revolution. The swift pace of change has caused people to create hasty assumptions about the impact AI will have on our profession. Some foresee the end of architecture as a career; others envision a magical software that could potentially yield more income with less effort, and others remain skeptical of these innovations and decide to stick to the traditional methods they have always known. The reality lies somewhere in the middle, and it is not the most sensational scenario.

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As of today, AI is a transformative tool, but nothing more than just a tool. It is not a conscious entity that can make decisions for itself, it is only a highly capable means for designers to make a much more informed decision, in a quicker and more efficient manner. Pretty soon, there will be more firms using some form of AI than not, and the difference in performance will become apparent between those who use it and those who do not. It has started with small teams of architects experimenting with AI, but the time will come where the use of AI programs will be as widespread as the use of Revit or AutoCAD.

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The difference between Revit/AutoCAD and these new AI programs is the level of entry for the latter will be much lower than the former. The conversational nature of these programs allows even untrained people, such as clients, to generate ideas without prior training. However, this does not mean that anyone will be able to do the job of an architect. They would still lack the relevant knowledge and experience required to effectively use what they've created the same way a trained architect would. Therefore, the training of an architect will still be very crucial, even with software that appears to do the job for you.

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These new tools are revolutionary and can do a lot of the heavy lifting for architects, but there will still be a need for trained individuals to make the final decision on which of the generated outcomes to implement in the final design. Until AI programs become capable enough to make these decisions for themselves, they will only be tools used to amplify architects and increase productivity. AI hashtag#technology is evolving rapidly, so it would seem reasonable to believe that they will gain the capacity to make these decisions for themselves very soon. However, I believe that while that is a possibility, it will actually take a lot more than most people realize to get to that point. That is a topic for another time, but for now, we can harness AI technology to improve our profession to its fullest extent.

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