RIBA's latest survey found 74% of architecture practices now use AI, but only 17% think it actually makes designs better. What is going on there?

[Pipeline Courier]

The Royal Institute of British Architects published its third annual survey of member attitudes toward AI, and the headline number is a jump from 59% of practices using AI in 2025 to 74% in 2026. On the surface that looks like an industry rapidly embracing the technology, and 75% of respondents did report an improvement in their practice's productivity, with 57% reporting a positive return on investment

The gap worth explaining is that despite all that adoption, only 17% of respondents actually agree that AI has made their designs better, and 77% believe human creativity can never be replaced by it. The survey suggests architects are treating AI mainly as an efficiency tool for the more repetitive parts of the job, drafting, documentation, iteration, rather than something that improves the actual creative and judgment heavy core of architectural design

There is also a real worry running through the results about the next generation of the profession, 59% believe AI adoption will lead to staff reductions across architecture, and 61% think it will make it harder for early career architects to build essential skills, since many of the repetitive tasks AI now automates were traditionally how junior staff learned the craft in the first place. RIBA's own framing lands on AI as a tool, not a solution, arguing that professional oversight and human judgment remain the parts of the job that cannot simply be automated away

AI in architecture is booming, but human judgement remains criticalwww.pbctoday.co.uk