#384 - The AI and Expertise Paradox, with Chris Parsons

Architecture firms are adopting AI faster than they're building the expertise to judge it.

In this episode, we explore the AI and expertise paradox with Christopher Parsons, Founder and CEO of Knowledge Architecture, the firm behind Synthesis — a knowledge and learning platform built for AEC firms — digging into what happens when the tools your firm is counting on require more institutional knowledge to evaluate than the people on staff actually have.

AI tools for technical work in architecture — code checking, quality assurance, documentation review — don't run themselves. They require experienced practitioners who can distinguish a real error from a flagged decision, catch what the model missed, and exercise judgment the model can't replicate. The problem is that the people who can do this are retiring. And the emerging professionals now entering firms are, in many cases, actively avoiding the deep technical tracks that build that kind of expertise. The knowledge gap is structural, and most firms aren't naming it yet.

Meanwhile, the apprenticeship model that used to transfer institutional knowledge quietly — through proximity, repetition, and mentorship — has eroded. Young professionals aren't getting the reps on site visits, project management calls, and technical coordination that used to form the foundation of good judgment. Architecture's feedback loop compounds this: a decision made today may not be visible in a finished building for four or five years, and by then the people who made it may not be at the firm. Organizational learning is nearly impossible without systems designed to accelerate it.

This conversation is essential listening for architects, firm leaders, and AEC educators who want to understand what it actually takes to build expertise in a profession that keeps adding tools faster than it builds the judgment to use them.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why AI tools for architecture QA and code-checking require senior technical oversight — and what happens when that oversight retires

• How the knowledge management crisis in AEC firms is structural, not just a staffing problem

• Why emerging professionals in architecture are increasingly skipping deep technical tracks — and what that means for AI adoption

• How architecture's long project feedback loop makes organizational learning harder than in almost any other industry

• What intentional mentorship looks like in practice — including "desirable difficulty" and how one firm rebuilt its approach to professional development

• Why expertise functions more like a verb than a noun, and what that means for how firms should think about training and retention

#AIinArchitecture #KnowledgeManagement #ArchitecturePractice #AEC #ArchitectureEducation #DesignTechnology

Episode Links:

1. ’The AI and Expertise Paradox’ by Chris Parsons

-----

Have a question for the hosts? Ask it at AskArchispeak.com

Thank you for listening to Archispeak. For more episodes please visit https://archispeakpodcast.com.

Support Archispeak by making a donation.