So, how do architecture schools anticipate the presence of AI technology in architectural design? When public pragmatism appreciates it as a substitute for expensive education, does it become a stumbling block? Or is it a challenge?
Of course, it is impossible to reject AI technology in the world of architecture outright, just because of the threat that it will replace the architectural profession. Blocking the massive progress of the times will only make us run and fall into backwardness. The only way is to see this technology as an opportunity to work together to achieve goals while walking hand in hand with the rhythm of progress of the times. Architectural education must also be able to adapt and turn the public narrative into a force that can certainly be sold by stimulating public reason. In this case, humans need to be encouraged to think “outside the box” in profitable strategies.
“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”. This phrase is of course widely accepted as an expression of optimism. When the world of architecture is challenged by artificial intelligence technology, humans need to respond with their intellectual potential. It has been mentioned previously that AI only takes a small portion of architectural design activities. Therefore, in anticipating this, it is important to focus on mastering the larger portion, which of course is the area of human ability that cannot be replaced by technology: intellect and wisdom.
The way AI works which depends on prompts and databases is certainly limited to that space, while human thought and creativity are at immeasurable limits. Human imagination, as the spirit of the design thinking process in architecture, certainly cannot be replaced by any sophisticated machine. Developing prompts as a starting point for AI work is important to master, to get the desired results, but they can still be held accountable academically by the person who created the prompt. This is in line with the principle of the academic process, which emphasizes “It is more important to ask the right question, rather than giving the correct answer”.
Therefore, architecture schools need to tell the public that their institutions prioritize AI mastery programs that emphasize good design thinking, within a critical and entrepreneurial framework. This to be able to master the ability to compose appropriate prompts and get the appropriate result from that technology. This plot twist narrative certainly creates an image that humans inevitably master technology, and with good market communication, the image of an architecture school that is ready to master technology can become strong advertising material.
Just like any other business line, architecture schools need to sell their product with a good marketing strategy, backed up by good strategy communication. Therefore, it is important to have a solid marketing team and creative marketing communication team that really understands what architecture is all about, especially related to the presence of AI technology. These teams should keep their line of communication open to the Architecture Department, especially in interpreting the materials that came from the department to become a marketing campaign strategy. After all, persuasive communication starts with the thorough understanding of the materials to be communicated.
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Artificial intelligence can be truly astonishing, when the public sees how advanced it is. However, the human brain, with its intellectual abilities, is certainly stronger. After all, it is called “artificial intelligence”, emphasizing certain limits, rather than being named “artificial intellectuality”. Intellectuality is definitely a human domain, and this is what needs to be communicated in promoting architecture study programs to the public. Of course, this is then in line with the architectural education paradigm, one which has shifted closer to the humanities and sciences, abandoning the old doctrine which views it as a branch of engineering.
This humanities approach in the development of architectural education could be a form of flexibility in architecture, and comprehensiveness as a result of its character, which is not rooted in any one area of knowledge. The criticism of Paul Valery and Martin Heidegger, who scorned architecture as “…a science that does not have clear scientific roots”, seems in fact to be an advantage in this context.
Thus, when asking whether the presence of AI architectural design applications will replace the architectural profession or architectural education, I will firmly answer “It is not that easy. Intellectuality and wisdom will always be above any technology, as long as humans still remain human and optimize their human nature”.