Non-Paywall TL:DR

Autodesk will release artificial intelligence assistants based on a uniform platform that’s an AI “partner” across all platforms that will be able to interrogate design, ask questions and iterate based on geometry and CAD and BIM logic similar to its existing Project Bernini AI shape tool.

"An agentic ecosystem is what Autodesk Assistant is the base of," said Mike Haley, senior vice president and director of research at Autodesk, at a press conference held prior to the start of the Autodesk University conference in Nashville Sept. 16. Haley said the base of agentic AI assistants will debut in Revit later this year and be included in AutoCAD, Civil 3D and other design programs next year. " We have trained a neural CAD model to understand all of the connections made and what changes mean for the walls of a building, and other structural connections," Haley said.

Haley said that the neural CAD model Autodesk is using for construction needs to understand shapes, forms and CAD geometry. The company has been researching and developing the model since Autodesk Labs started in 2020.

"Anyone can take a large language and put it against a CAD API. You can only get so far doing that. It can’t reason in 3D or the physical world. These models work natively in that 3D space," he said, explaining that the models are trained on data such as that used in Project Bernini, which was based on the parametric connections between shapes and forms.

Autodesk also said that it will fold its Construction Cloud platform of construction management-related products into its Autodesk Forma cloud platform for design later this year. Autodesk Docs is also having its named changed to Autodesk Forma Data Management and it will exist in the Forma cloud platform as the central hub for AEC and operations project information.

Forma becoming the cloud platform for all of Autpodesk's AEC operations is a shift that has been happening since 2017 when CEO Andrew Anagnost announced the new AEC-specific cloud platform that was, at the time, said to be an environment for AEC similar to Autodesk's Fusion cloud as the central cloud platform for manufacturing.

"We’re moving closer to our full industry cloud vision by bringing Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) into Forma and uniting design and make, moving from files to granular data and breaking down silos to enable hyper-collaboration," said Amy Bunszel, senior vice president for AEC Solutions at Autodesk in a statement.

Autodesk claims that these cloud and AI developments will allow its users to move from files to granular data, from siloed information to better collaboration, and to augment outcome-based BIM with AI and automation. The company said the Forma industry cloud is the first end-to-end, AI-native platform for AECO.

"Our sector is evolving rapidly and digital tools are helping us work smarter and faster,” said Gert-JanDitsel, business partner digital construction at Dura Vermeer in a statement.

I wonder who the AI partner is. This application of AI seems a bit more likely to produce productivity gains but Autodesk isn’t sharing its P/L on implementing this technology. We need to see a use case that will make it desirable for the market to purchase the service in mass.