AI Construction Tools

The AI tool landscape for construction is evolving rapidly, with solutions ranging from general-purpose document search to specialized applications for specific workflows. Evaluating these tools requires understanding what type of AI each one uses and whether it has been trained on AEC-specific content.

The most important distinction is between general-purpose AI (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) and domain-specific AI (trained on construction documents, building codes, and AEC workflows). General-purpose AI is useful for writing emails and summarizing meetings but falls short when you need to verify a code requirement, compare a submittal against a specification, or find a detail across 500 drawing sheets. Domain-specific AI understands the structure and relationships within construction documents.

When evaluating AI tools, firms should focus on three things: accuracy (does it get the right answer?), citations (does it show where the answer came from?), and integration (does it connect to the platforms you already use?). An AI tool that gives confident but uncited answers is dangerous in construction, where decisions based on incorrect information can result in code violations, rework, or safety hazards.