Enough with manual, antiquated BIM. It is time to create projects from AI prompts rather than manually modeling every element. Instead of grafting AI onto Revit and other legacy design platforms, Autodesk and the AEC industry should develop a truly AI-native design environment built from the ground up for the age of artificial intelligence. To be clear, Revit combined with Forma, Spacemaker, or any other hybrid approach is not the answer. Adding AI features to legacy software does not fundamentally transform the design process.
This next-generation platform should be completely independent of Revit and the assumptions that have shaped BIM software for decades. In fact, it may be better if its creators are not influenced by Revit at all. Rather than replicating decades-old workflows behind a modern interface, AI-native design should be built from scratch on entirely new programming principles, data structures, and methods of human-computer interaction. It should function fundamentally differently from both traditional BIM and today's hybrid AI-enhanced BIM workflows.
With AI-native design, architects should regain control of the design process, focusing on intent, creativity, performance, and outcomes rather than serving the constraints of outdated software. Designers should define goals, requirements, constraints, and priorities, while the software interprets those objectives, evaluates alternatives, and generates solutions. Architects would guide, direct, and refine the design, rather than manually constructing every wall, floor, roof, and component.
The future of design is not AI-assisted BIM. It is AI-native design. Just as BIM transformed CAD, AI-native design will eventually transform BIM. The most important question is not how to integrate AI into Revit, but how to replace the underlying paradigm altogether. Every generation of technology reaches a point where incremental improvement is no longer enough. BIM approached that point long ago. The next leap forward will come from reimagining design from first principles around artificial intelligence, not from extending the life of tools conceived long before AI existed.
