“Can you help me design my residential tower? It's 30 stories and located in Brooklyn, New York.” ChatGPT’s response may be surprising. Given that the bot has no architectural experience, and is certainly not a licensed architect, it was quick to rattle off a list of considerations for my building. Zoning codes, floor plan functionality, building codes, materiality, structural design, amenity spaces, and sustainable measures were just a few of the topics ChatGPT shared information about.
ChatGPT is a new chatbot widely discussed in mainstream media over the last few months since it was launched by OpenAI. It works by using a generative pre-trained transformer (GPT) software program which sources information from all across the internet to provide responses and commentary to a user's questions. ChatGPT has been reported to write sophisticated essays and give human-like responses, some of which have been described as “eerie”. Could ChatGPT provide answers that will one day replace jobs? Could ChatGPT make architects irrelevant? On the other hand, some designers feel that ChatGPT could streamline projects, answer simple questions, and enhance collaboration between teams. Other forms of AI are already being used to generate photo-realistic renders, so why couldn’t they create finish palettes or floor plans?
We gathered a short list of basic design and building code questions that architects might ask internally among their design teams, external consultants, or a client during a meeting. What we found is that it largely provided a concise list of options for us to quickly weigh pros and cons, or understand where to find more information, instead of sharing a specific response that an architect would usually know the answer to. For now, ChatGPT feels more like an easy-to-use encyclopedia of information instead of something that could actually have a holistic knowledge of how a building is designed and constructed.
