Reality Check: Platform AI

In October, Procore, Autodesk, Bluebeam, Kahua and others all announced either new AI features and products, or continuations of what they had been promising for some time. What does this mean for contractors?

First, many of these features are not yet widely available, so their impact in 2025 will be limited. The bigger point, though, is that AI will be in everything. You will have chatbot-like assistants in most software, both at the platform level and in most point solutions. The ability to ask for things in everyday language will start with what you expect. In 2026, you will begin to see “agents” of various types - mostly these will be steps that get automated for you, from checking submittals against specifications to drafting RFIs, and more. That will be good, but it won't be a significant shift. 

What is more exciting is the ability to create your own agents and automations. Since the dawn of software, we have bought standardized software that helped but left steps and tasks undone, requiring manual effort that can be surprisingly time-consuming. AI promises to close some of that gap, so companies and even individual teams can customize software exactly to the way they want to work. This is not a mystical, all-knowing AI, just an intelligent extension of software that fits your chosen way of doing things. 

Still some way to go for that to be widely available, but the basics are in place, and teams across the big (and smaller) platforms are busy working out bugs and putting security and controls in place for a broader rollout in early/mid 2026. 

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