With "a little apprehension," AI is timidly making its way into architectural firms

AI can "really make the architect's job easier," believes Rachid Khayatey, architect and director of the KLK company, which developed Make.Plan, an application that allows users to generate plans of existing buildings from a smartphone.

This "proptech" company, a term used to describe innovative and technological companies in the real estate sector, is one of the main partners of the Paris IA Immo Day conference, which opens Wednesday on the sidelines of the Vivatech trade show in Paris.

For a few dozen euros per month, Make.Plan offers to relieve architects by reconstructing the plans of the building to be renovated for them, a "difficult", "meticulous" and "very expensive" task for professionals, according to Rachid Khayatey.

An enticing promise on paper, and yet Clément Raimbault, an independent architect in Nancy, admits to having "a little apprehension" at the idea of using this type of tool.

"I haven't seen enough use for it yet to integrate it into my daily life," explains the 34-year-old architect.

"Unreliable"

Artificial intelligence is "a real topic of discussion and questioning" for the profession, summarizes Olivier Celnik, member of the National Council of the Order of Architects (CNOA), who believes that while some architects use it, "it is far from being the majority" for the moment.

"It's not at all reliable," says Romain Conti, an architect in Nice, who uses AI "as little as possible." "In ChatGPT, there are lots of things that come out that aren't accurate (...). So, from that point on, there's no trust yet."

To address this fear of error, Colline Vacher, co-founder of JOOC, an application that helps architects respond to calls for tenders using AI, has ensured that "the user always retains control" at every step of the process. And "when there's any doubt, the tool says so in its response," she adds.

According to this daughter of architects, the objective is, once again, to save time: responding to a call for tenders is "extremely time-consuming" for an agency, while "there is a fairly low success rate, on average around 5%," she argues.

JOOC can be compared to an "assistant," continues Ms. Vacher, who "will not replace the architect," but who can allow him to "dedicate the time saved to much more strategic or creative things."

Regulated profession

"We see that for peripheral elements such as image production (...), automated solutions exist and could replace the role of the architect in cases where it is not mandatory," admits Olivier Celnik.

"Space planning," that is, the art of arranging workspaces such as open spaces, creating a digital model or even developing capacity studies to determine the feasibility of a project, could be part of the architect's skills that will disappear with AI in the coming years.

The CNOA, however, remains positive because "architects are a regulated profession (...) so there are essential elements" that cannot be delegated to the IA. Starting with the design of the project leading to a building permit, the heart of the profession, which must be signed by a professional.

"It's the law," continues Olivier Celnik, who explains that architects who violate this rule potentially face legal action or a disciplinary hearing before the Order.

"So AI, yes, it helps and it improves if we take the trouble to monitor and if we know the rules ourselves," for example the regulatory constraints in terms of fire safety or PMR, he concludes.

AI or not, the architect's profession is unlikely to be replaced, according to Romain Conti. "People think our job is to draw. But in fact, that represents 10% of our work; the rest is construction. (...) It's above all about human contact."