What Happens When Expertise Isn’t Enough? 

AI and the Future of Professional Services

The expertise our industry is built on may no longer be a reliable differentiator. That sounds dystopian, and in many ways, it is. Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping how knowledge is accessed, validated, and deployed. In a world where AI tools can generate code summaries, produce concept plans, or analyze energy use patterns in seconds, it’s not unreasonable to ask: what will your business model look like in one year? In three? In five? 

These aren’t rhetorical questions. They’re strategic imperatives. 

Start scenario planning now 

We’re planning for several AI futures. The one thing we know for certain is that inaction poses the greatest risk to our survival. Even delayed reactions are dangerous when we’re talking about technology that doubles sophistication and capacity every six-to-seven months and yields masters and PhD-level content.  

Dismissiveness could be catastrophic for industries like ours. The currency of our business has long been credibility, process, and rigor. If AI can ‘approximate’ our work faster and cheaper (even when it’s wrong), how do we remain trusted and relevant? 

To be clear, human expertise isn’t irrelevant—but AI does require us to reframe how we approach traditional problem solving. Our ability to apply our expertise in new and different ways, and to get even more creative with the way we frame our design challenges, will become vital to matching the pace of AI evolution and to anticipating the future of what AI is capable of in this new era. 

AI is the steam engine of our time. Instead of asking “Will AI change architecture and engineering?” we’re asking “How quickly will it reshape the foundation of what we do?” and “How can we help AI help us”?  

This means we’re scenario-planning business models that don’t rely solely on traditional forms of consulting. It means considering what happens when schematic design is commoditized or when clients use AI to generate building plans before we ever enter the conversation.  

But that’s not cause for despair, it’s a call to evolve.  

Don’t be afraid, be inspired 

Large language models (LLMs) are massively sophisticated pattern detectors and as a result, they average out ideas. Human creativity pushes boundaries—and this is where we can shine. We want AI to handle average and mundane tasks so that we can focus our deep, human expertise on real design challenges. 

We’re actively exploring how AI can, and should, support our teams, our design process, our communication with one another, and our clients. Not because we believe it will replace our people, but because we recognize it will replace firms that don’t engage with it.  

AI is forcing us to think about how we conceptualize and articulate problems and design solutions in new ways, and in many cases presenting possibilities that were previously cost or time prohibitive. It’s enabling us to focus on the deeper, more meaningful work of creating new value paths and making our clients’ lives richer. 

Our approach is multi-layered: 

• Actively testing tools that streamline code research, documentation, and early-phase modeling 
• Piloting AI applications in marketing, proposal development, and internal operations 
• Implementing AI agents and plug-ins that automate administrative functions and drive efficiency  
• Establishing internal ethics and policy guidelines around data, transparency, and authorship 
• Fostering dialogue across the firm about how to lead (not just adapt to) this fast-evolving change 

We believe in having an entrepreneurial mindset and engaging AI with both curiosity and caution. That means balancing experimentation with reflection and moving forward, even when the path is unclear. Learning in public, and sharing what works, and what doesn’t.  

What Remains Human 

There will always be a place for human ingenuity. The big questions, the nuanced decisions, the creative leaps, those belong to us. But we can’t pretend that what we’ve done before will always be enough. Our tools are changing. Our clients’ expectations are changing. And the concept of “value” is changing. Just like in nature, our adaptability is the key to our survival. 

What’s needed now is courage and relentless curiosity. Not to compete with AI on speed or scale, but to redesign how we operate in a world where those things are no longer differentiators. 

An Invitation 

This is not a roadmap. It’s a reckoning. The AEC firms that thrive in the years ahead won’t be the ones who defend the past. They’ll be the ones who challenge themselves to imagine a future where their role is different, and maybe even more powerful than ever before. 

We’re not waiting for that future to arrive. We’re building it, one question, one experiment, and one project at a time.