Autodesk plans a standalone AI Assistant spanning all its products, launching in 2027
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Top story
For every person at a firm who opens Revit or Fusion each day, Autodesk estimates roughly ten more people work on the same project and never touch a design tool. Project managers, cost consultants, coordinators. The standalone Autodesk Assistant, announced at AU26 last week and planned for 2027, is built for that larger group. Ask it about a structural change and it traces the downstream effect on schedule, fabrication, and cost, then calls the relevant Autodesk tool to act. A feature called Assistant Builder lets staff describe a workflow once, generate a repeatable template, and rerun it with consistent output, so the process does not shift from session to session. The 2027 date is the useful fact to hold: Autodesk's research team is separately developing interfaces driven entirely by sketching and spoken word, with no fixed menus, but those are further out.
02
Quick hits
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PracticeAutodesk CEO frames AU26 around a connected brain for every project
Andrew Anagnost opened AU26 by arguing that AI has expanded what firms can imagine faster than the money and labour exist to deliver it. Autodesk's pitch is a shared intelligence layer running across Forma, Fusion, and Flow, pulling project data into a single connected view. Across multiple announcements the company stressed that the Assistant targets repetitive tasks and administrative work, with professional judgment staying with the people doing the work. -
Practice61% of construction firms are investing in AI, up from 44% last year
The AGC's 2026 Construction Hiring and Business Outlook found 61% of respondents are using AI or planning to increase investment in it, against 44% in 2025. AI estimating and scheduling tools produce outputs based entirely on whatever project data they receive. Outdated job costing, late-entered change orders, or estimates built on inaccurate historical figures will produce confident-looking forecasts that are wrong in the same ways the source data was.
03
New tools & releases
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ToolingAutodesk launches Forma Street Design and brings Civil 3D into the Forma platform
Autodesk released Forma Street Design at AU26 and made Civil 3D a Forma Connected Client. Firms running civil or site work alongside building projects should check what the Connected Client designation enables for their existing Civil 3D setup.
Autodesk University 2026 dominated this week's relevant announcements, so three of today's four items cover Autodesk products. The quick hit on construction data quality draws on a sponsored article in Construction Dive; the AGC survey figures it cites are from independently conducted research.