We need to take AI seriously, and skill up

Our stunning cover (pictured above) for our special AI-themed issue was created using Muse AI Art Generator. But that’s too simple a summary – our brilliant art editor Maria Rodriguez spent hours (and hours) on it. There was most certainly human intelligence and intervention at work here.

How do you sum up the space where the latest technological leap meets deep-seated knowledge and understanding of craft? How do you encapsulate hurtling through a big-tech world while appreciating what makes us human?

To arrive at this cover, Maria used prompts such as ‘a person standing in nature, by the river Thames, holding a mobile phone in his hands, framed by a William Morris portal in Kelmscott Press print style, monochrome indigo…’ and on and on it went. Prosaic nudges. Occasionally some seriously odd (and very funny) results. Each image generated afresh, as if the system had no memory.

Because, of course, it doesn’t (not yet, anyway). As Stephen Parnell puts it in his piece (out next week): ‘Large Language Models only exist in the eternal now’. His is one of many striking comments and observations in this cornucopia of an edition.

Kam Bava of K Bava Architects, for example, observes that AI is ‘like working with an enthusiastic but very unskilled colleague’ (look out for our AI round-up of how practices are currently using the technology).

More on this topic

AI survey: architects torn between risks and opportunities as use surges

And architect and AI expert Keir Regan-Alexander offers a keen insight into how and why you need to get involved: ‘It’s not hyperbole to state that the physical environment of our future cities will be moulded largely by the work of computer scientists and the algorithms they’ll write in the next few years. With this as a backdrop, our best architects and place-makers must be more than part of the new conversation, they must also become active in the development of this consequential, software-driven shift.’

As an editorial team, we’re learning about AI, and we’re learning alongside you. Responding to our survey of the profession for first impressions of this new tech, 62 per cent of architects said they were using AI currently and 65 per cent see the emerging generative technologies as an opportunity for the profession. A full 59 per cent think it will improve productivity – but testimonies from respondents show a much more nuanced picture.

What does seem important is that, when AI is used (as it is, increasingly, and at speed), it is acknowledged and recognised. And we take heart that AI is being tried out and used by architects to augment and complement their own skills, which remain very much needed. AI manifestly does not have all the answers to myriad real-world challenges. But we should take it seriously, and skill up.

As for the cover, it might have taken ages to produce, but somehow it has resonated with us more than many others. Is the outcome greater than the sum of the parts? Here, we think so.

The March edition of the AJ is published today, and content from the issue will appear online over the coming weeks. Subscribers can read the digital edition here, or copies of the printed magazine can be purchased here. An AJ subscription is better value – click here to view our packages