Foster + Partners reviews AI outputs the same way it reviews Revit models
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Top story
Eight years into using AI at Foster + Partners, Martha Tsigkari's answer to the governance question is the same one she would give for Revit: someone reviews every drawing, every model, every deliverable before it leaves the office. An AJ webinar on 8 September, supported by CMap, brought together Tsigkari alongside Rada Daleva of Daleva Design and Kira Ariskina of ViableSite to describe what AI looks like in daily practice across firms of very different scales. At Foster + Partners, that means tools for searching 60 years of accumulated project knowledge and images. Other applications compare building codes across jurisdictions, route questions to the right people on large project teams, and run predictive models for resourcing and profitability. Smaller studios on the panel described using AI mainly to generate design options quickly and help clients visualise proposals through rapid image iterations. Across all three, professional sign-off stays with the architect.
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Quick hits
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PracticeSage: AI delivers most value when project data connects across the whole business
A Sage-sponsored piece in Construction Dive argues that AI tools applied function by function leave teams unable to explain why a project is losing margin. The value comes when operational and financial data connect across the project lifecycle, giving AI enough context to trace a problem to its source. ACT Construction, a Sage Intacct customer, described connecting estimating to project setup so that budget assumptions carry through automatically rather than being re-entered at each stage.
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New tools & releases
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ToolingGPT-6 Astra is now available inside ChatGPT
OpenAI's new flagship model, GPT-6 Astra, is now in ChatGPT. Staff using it to draft specifications, fee proposals, or project correspondence will get the upgrade automatically; OpenAI describes it as their most capable and best-aligned model to date. -
ToolingAdobe Premiere adds a Generative Media panel for generating footage and audio in the timeline
Adobe has added a Generative Media panel to Premiere that lets editors generate missing video clips, sound effects, or music directly in the editing timeline. Anyone at a firm who cuts client presentation videos can now highlight an empty gap in the sequence and generate footage to fill it, choosing from generators including Adobe Firefly, Google Veo, and Runway without leaving the project.
Only one quick hit qualified today. Most of this week's AI news centred on developer tools, model benchmarks, and corporate announcements with no clear connection to how architecture firms design, deliver, or run themselves.