In this BSA series – “Why AI?” – enterprise software leaders explain in their own words how artificial intelligence (AI) is having a positive impact on individuals, businesses, and organizations worldwide. In this submission, Autodesk Executive Vice President Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Design Solutions Amy Bunszel writes about how Autodesk products use machine learning to help customers increase productivity and improve outcomes.
1. Why AI?
Autodesk sits at the junction of many of the most creative and impactful industries in the world. Our customers are being asked to do things faster and more sustainably but also at lower costs and higher quality. Autodesk AI is helping customers meet the moment –by increasing productivity and giving them the tools to be more ambitious and creative.
The architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, for example, faces incredible pressures to design and build the future of where we live and work to withstand the impacts of climate change and to accommodate growing populations. AI can extract meaningful data trends in how a building performs in the real-world and this data can improve future projects. An example available today is Autodesk Forma, which uses machine learning to help designers understand the operational energy of a building and optimize sites for light, wind, and noise conditions.
2. Can you give an example?
AI will improve the way we optimize the use of our most precious resource, water. For example, a large water utility serving hundreds of thousands of people in central England has implemented AI technology as part of its smart water strategy to modernize the country’s aging infrastructure and design an optimized water supply. The project was developed in partnership with Autodesk Water, using our AI and machine learning capabilities to analyze millions of rows of historic data. Over 30 models were developed that continue to learn with connected links to live asset data feeds.
The Autodesk Water implementation continually collects and analyzes changes in water quality metrics, which enables operational staff to intervene with the minimal amount of chemical and energy use needed to maintain the highest standards of water quality. The project has already delivered 150,000 GBP in savings at a single water treatment plant and has the potential to be rolled out across the country’s asset base. With the use of AI, the company now provides more efficient and resilient services to its customers.
3. Where can we learn more?
To stay updated on Autodesk AI, visit ADSK News and the Autodesk Research blog. As well, this blog details the 10 ways AI is changing the water industry and the Autodesk Forma blog summarizes the benefits of its predictive and machine learning capabilities.
About the author:
Amy Bunszel is the Executive Vice President, Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Design Solutions at Autodesk, where she manages product strategy and execution for Autodesk’s 3D design portfolio including the Autodesk Architecture, Engineering and Construction Collection, AutoCAD family, Autodesk Revit, and more. She has more than 20 years of experience innovating software products across the architecture, engineering, and construction, manufacturing, and media and entertainment industries.
