AI as Infrastructure: automating the Invisible in agency workflows

While the debate around AI in architecture has largely centred on image generation and generative design, a parallel transformation is quietly unfolding, one that touches the support functions and operational workflows that silently consume teams' time every day.

This keynote traces Arte Charpentier's journey (80 staff, Paris, Shanghai, Cotonou, Wuhan) in deploying an in-house toolchain. We will detail how the firm has freed up thousands of hours by automating "the invisible", structured around four axes:

- Mapping operational debt: identifying low-value tasks that fall through the cracks of generic AI solutions.

- Testing the substrate: a cost/complexity framework for deciding where AI should intervene and where it should step aside.

- Third-party tools vs. intangible capital: why investing in the firm's own data assets matters more than relying on volatile tools. AI as a catalyst: from pilot project to building a structured internal innovation hub.

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