Are We Ready for Buildings That Think for Themselves?

“Elvis is Everywhere” was a silly 1987 song by Mojo Nixon. (Look it up. You’ll laugh.) In Las Vegas, of course, Elvis Presley imagery is still very much around every corner. But at AHR Expo, it was “AI” that was everywhere this year.

While it seemed as if all of the nearly 1,800 exhibitors had at least some mention of artificial intelligence at their booths, the subject was also front and center at an informative, fascinating, and maybe even a little frightening panel discussion, “The Great Disconnect: Are We Ready for Buildings That Think for Themselves?"

“People are not ready yet, but the buildings are,” said Charles Pelletier, VP of Product Management, Distech Controls. And that is the main paradox that the session discussed: The smarter our systems become, the less understood and trusted they often feel to their owners, users, and building engineers.

Exploring "the gap between technological potential and real-world experience," the high-powered panel included Pelletier; Darryl DeAngelis of the Association for Smarter Homes and Buildings (ASHB); Saheel Chandrani, co-founder and CEO of PingCX; Stephen Holicky, chief product officer at Tridium, Inc.; and moderator Julie Petrone, global marketing director at ABB.

To bridge that gap and overcome that discomfort and even fear, panelists urged attendees to embrace the moment and to dive into it.

Don't Rage Against; Challenge the Machines

“There is so much experience within these four walls,” Hollicky said, gesturing to the audience. “Your experience. That is your differential. Remember that. Challenge the models as much as you can, as soon as you can.”

Indeed, that interaction is key. Users cannot be complacent and sit back. They have to interactively make the AI smarter and more useful. And we have to develop the right language and ask the questions we most need answered. 

“Prompting is a skill we all need to master,” said Pelletier. “That is key. You have to ask the right questions.”

Petrone prompted the group by asking, “What about the difference between building owners and designers, and how that affects adoption?"

"Some building owners just do not care about the long-term," said ASHB's DeAngelis. "They just want to flip the building and sell it as soon as possible. But designers want to delight the users. So, that gulf can be wide.”

Petrone responded. "So, what will make that happen in the U.S.? Will it be the dangling carrot or the big stick?"

DeAngelis chimed in. "We have to demonstrate to the owner the value of the asset. If AI can help the building be healthier, then that building will be easier to flip.”

"We can also frame it in the sense of standards and codes versus policy," said Chandrani. "Standards are guided by what is achievable. Policy comes in the form of directives. So standards will likely push adoption of AI the fastest… And I am very optimistic that we will take advantage of this because of the quality of the standards being adopted.”

Calculating the ROI of AI

Even so, the U.S. market has been very slow to adapt building automation systems (BAS) across multiple building types, noted Hollicky.

"But look at Europe," added Chandrani. "BAS has been a game-changer there. In several countries, buildings of a certain size must have automation systems.”

Petrone jumped back in. "So, are autonomous buildings inevitable?"

DeAngelis responded. "The average age of engineers in NYC is 54 years. So, like it or not, there will come a time in the not-too-distant future when we will have to leverage this tool. But for now, owners still have resistance to AI. So the challenge is to show them the return on investment, the ROI of AI."

Pelletier added, “We are probably 5 to 10 years away from full adoption... AI will eventually replace humans in this space. But for now, AI can be really useful as an assistant. Facility managers can use AI to help manage and optimize virtually all building systems."

“I think it could be just one to three years, myself," added DeAngelis.

Hollicky had a different take. "The percentage of buildings here with BAS systems is still very low. So we still have quite a ways to go."