As Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to emerge as an innovative tool across numerous industries, SeamonWhiteside has already incorporated the set of technologies in performing key tasks, such as processing new proposals and acting as a virtual assistant.
Defined as a realm of study involved in producing computers and machines that can learn, reason and operate much like human intelligence does, AI is gradually being rolled out by the design firm.
"We obviously use AI as a virtual assistant to attend some of our meetings, where it takes notes, it records the meetings [and] gives you a synopsis of what happened," explained Senior Landscape Architect Whit Dawson from his Greenville, South Carolina office.
However, before going full bore on implementing AI, the company will need to draft a specific policy for when and how to use this new ability to perform tasks. And while AI remains a "work in progress" throughout SeamonWhiteside offices, including locations in Mount Pleasant and Summerville, it will ultimately allow the firm to accelerate the creation of conceptual layouts.
Offering SeamonWhiteside a faster way to layout conceptual drawings and ideas, said Dawson, will rank as one of the top benefits the firm will derive from AI.
Expediting that process, he continued, will help ease the back-and-forth conversations between the company and its clients in trying to maximize the profitability of a potential development project.
The plan is for AI to be initially utilized for industrial and commercial building types, but not in single-family construction, which factors in buffers, slopes, various overlay districts and topography.
In the event of AI revamping SeamonWhiteside's design methods over the next three to five years, its application will only be conceptual at the start, according to Dawson.
"Eventually, it'll get to be very good at overall design. But its still going to have limitations of designing within the requirements of the municipality. And that municipality data has never really been standardized yet, and that's going to take years," said the Brunswick, Georgia native.
"If that gets standardized and somehow gets put into AI's design brain, then yeah, it'll be a big game changer. But I think we're at least five to 10 years away from that."
When asked by the Moultrie News on whether AI and its ChatGPT model would result in job loss down the road, Dawson maintained that it isn't a significant concern at the moment.
Specifically, he observed that while he isn't worried about job loss among current staff, AI could in time impact the volume of interns at SeamonWhiteside.
The reasoning behind that is that interns, typically college undergrads, need to be taught basic tasks before they can tackle more complex duties. Over the period of an intern's one-to-two-month stint, Dawson maintained, the same volume of information can be fed to an AI chatbot.
"And by the end of the week or month or two, AI is so much better than before -- and it only gets better and better and better," added the University of Georgia grad.
For more information on SeamonWhiteside's services, visit https://seamonwhiteside.com/.