Perplexity on Ai for Marketing in 4 Parts

Nightcafe generated image.

Tech is not supposed to be a master tool to colonize every aspect of our being. We need to reevaluate how it serves us.

Brian Merchat, “The New Luddites Aren’t Backing Down,” The Atlantic, February 2, 2024.

I had a conversation about Ai’s influence on architecture with the new Ai-powered search engine Perplexity. Despite all the articles flying around on this topic, I was intrigued by what this new platform, Perplexity, would share.

Perplexity is a little different from systems like ChatGPT, because it summarizes the content it finds on a topic and provides links to source material. It’s a new take on Google search.

So, what better source for answers on an Ai-fueled architectural future than Ai? My real interest is in debunking the idea that architects should rely on Ai for marketing. I’ve heard this idea floated around in multiple forums; it irks me every time.

I have a lifelong friend who, whenever she had a problem, would say, “I have a bone to pick with you.” Perhaps this indicates a little too much about our attraction to 16th century language, but I have a bone to pick with those who believe Ai is the answer to marketing in architecture. [Note, I’m reminded I haven’t written on the use of archaic language in the profession… More on that in the future.]

Let’s define marketing as both spoken, in-person or virtual, sessions with others and written communications across all platforms from websites and social media to client communications, project descriptions and RFP/RFQ responses.

My exchange with Perplexity took me down a deep rabbit hole (or 2) of articles that posed a similar question, from archdaily.com to dezeen.com and a few sites with articles posed as pitches. Perplexity does not differentiate. Exceptions granted for useful info, but otherwise only non selling sources are linked.

Because rabbit holes tend to be deep, our conversation continues in four posts. Because the first topic always seems to be whether Ai will replace architects, I started there.

Part 1:

Hi, Perplexity (because even Ai likes civility), will Ai replace architects?

Artificial intelligence (Ai) is unlikely to fully replace architects in the near future. While Ai can automate routine and less creative tasks, it is more likely to complement and enhance human creativity, rather than replace it. Ai tools can assist in generating designs, visualizations, and technical information, but they lack the complex human abilities involved in creativity, communication, teamwork, and problem-solving.

I’ll interrupt with a few key excerpts from the source “Will Ai Replace Architects?” by Pedro J. López: “Creativity is a complex and multi-dimensional human ability that involves imagination, intuition, and the ability to think outside of the box. While Ai can be trained to generate new ideas and produce creative output, it lacks the emotional intelligence and human experience necessary to fully replicate the creativity of a human being.”

Emphasis on “emotional intelligence” and “human experience” because both are relevant to this conversation.

The role of the architect is expected to evolve, with Ai potentially automating certain aspects of the job and allowing professionals to concentrate on more strategic and imaginative tasks.

I highly recommend Marília Matoso’s ArchDaily piece, “Will Artificial Intelligence Replace Architects?” I could cut and past the whole thing , including a citation that Ai is likely to automate “up to 37%” (data footnoted in the article) of the routine, non-creative tasks “typically carried out by architects and engineers.” However, Matoso’s most valuable statements are in her conclusion and charge: Ai “will fundamentally change the nature of our profession. To effectively embrace new tools and evolving knowledge, architects must remain current and continually update their skill sets… Architects must begin leveraging Ai to maintain a competitive edge in an ever more competitive environment…and elevate our proficiency to become ‘superusers.’” [Love that word.]

Better still is the piece’s call to academia, paraphrased here because you know how I like to knock out extraneous language: The disciplines of architectural education delve into the history of architecture “but few contemplate its future. What architects ought to be conceiving today is not just another structure but the future trajectory of our profession.” Who can resist this idea?

Pansy Schulman’s piece for Architecture Record, “Learning Ai: Are Architecture Schools Ready?” reveals that academic programs are playing with Ai in various ways and at different program levels. A potential geo-plate-shift may be on the horizon, noted by David Ruy, Postgraduate Programs Chair, MS Synthetic Landscapes Coordinator at SCI-Arc (who has been working with Ai in his advanced studios for years), with the inevitable expanded use of Ai.  

Ruy sees Ai’s timesaving capabilities as potentially kick-starting a “value shift” away from our historic cultural attachment to long working hours [speaking of archaic…]. “When you can type in a prompt and get a rendering, that’s better than what you could have produced after a week of work, you have to acknowledge that the real value in education comes in judgment and curation, not elbow grease.”

I wish I could find myself back at school for this one… More than a few near-retirement-age-if-not-past-it architects may never make the shift away from their attachment to “hours = architecture.”

Back to Perplexity’s conclusion:

Therefore, while Ai may change the way architects work, it is not expected to entirely replace them.

Perplexity’s summary is based on a Dezeen article by Nat Barker that cites a survey by design technology firm RevitGods that 55% of US architects are "moderately concerned" about being replaced by Ai in the future, with a further 20% "very concerned."

Phil Bernstein, associate dean and professor adjunct, Yale School of Architecture, and author of Machine Learning: Architecture in the age of Artificial Intelligence, has spent years immersed in “multiple waves of technological change in the industry” that also heralded an untimely end to the profession (CAD and BIM). While Ai could take on “large swathes” of potentially automatable architectural work, in the Barker article, Bernstein asks, "…what happens to that additional capacity? Do we use it to do our jobs better, or do we eliminate some of those jobs?"

The article poses that Ai’s automation has the potential to clear the way for architects to stake claim to new and expanded roles, with the higher fees that these thinkers estimate will follow. In the article, George Guida, founder of ArchiTAG, Harvard University researcher, and Generative Ai specialist, states, "Increasing productivity gives a great opportunity for emerging practices to bring a competitive edge… So in the short term it won't remove jobs—if anything, it will give smaller firms a stronger edge."

That architects need to get their Ai act together as quickly as possible, if not yesterday, is not new and falls outside of my deep dive. If you want a great primmer on the different types of Ai for architecture, Dezeen offers a good list here. And Perplexity, by design, can throw out a lot of resources.

If we go back to our definition of marketing (spoken, in-person or virtual, sessions with others and written communications) and add the purpose of storytelling (to convey experience, encourage the imagination, transmit cultural messages, and/or inspire an audience), we discover what is lacking in Ai, (from above) the complex human abilities involved in creativity and communication (among other things), means that your stories, those behind what you market, cannot be found or even refined in an Ai system. They have to come from you.

Want to understand more about the architectural marketing/ai connection? Look for my next post.

If you are interested in creating great stories about architecture, architects, architectural practice, and your projects or if you’re planning to pursue Fellowship in the AIA College of Fellows, please check out my books at https://www.architectactionresult.com/shop or through your favorite e-bookseller.