Autodesk University 2025 was an electric week, jam-packed with bold ideas, inspiration and practical steps towards the future of architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) in the next era of AI. Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost opened with a simple but powerful line: “The future is here.”.
This sentiment resonates deeply with us at PODIUM. We, too, believe that the future is already unfolding, and we are here to help share it.
Over the course of AU 2025, three emerging themes stood out to me.
1) Accelerating early-stage design
Across the built environment, the pressure on development teams is real, and it ripples through everyone involved in the building design process. Racel Amour, Head of Generative AI for AEC at Autodesk, highlighted in her keynote that “designers are being asked to deliver faster, more sustainably, and more cost-effectively. All without sacrificing quality”.
At PODIUM, we are shifting left. The key to meeting these business demands is to supply the development teams with richer data earlier in the process. Too often, valuable insights only emerge later at the schematic level. Shifting-left does not only benefit the designers, but the entire team behind a project, it helps reducing the levels of uncertainty as we’re surfacing schematic level data, such as costing and scheduling, enabling quicker decision making.
The connected client workflow presented by Autodesk between Forma and Revit reinforces this opportunity, allowing smoother transitions from concept to detail. At PODIUM, we’ve taken this vision further with our own Forma Extension, allowing projects to start in Forma and seamlessly port into PODIUM. And we’re excited to launch our upcoming Revit plugin which allows our automated schematic models to be directly consumed within Revit – reaching specificity with speed.
2) AI is integral in design
AI was everywhere at AU 2025 – from the Autodesk Assistant embedded across products to AI-driven building interiors and simulations… there was even AI-generated air-fryers! Within the first half of the day while attending side sessions, my “AI bingo card” was quickly filled. But, and beyond those flashy buzzwords, there was a clear message: AI is integral to the design industry – from AEC to Manufacturing and Media.
Yet, as exciting as probabilistic AI is, AEC requires a careful balance. Non-deterministic or probabilistic AI is perfect for exploration, but to avoid costly rework and re-modelling, determinism remains critical – especially as we shift left and bring certainty earlier into the process.
At PODIUM, our AI vision is grounded in this balance. Our approach combines deterministic automation with AI-augmented assistance. Instead of predicting a building’s structure, we automate it, all while guiding users with AI agents to focus on what truly matters in a controlled environment. In practice, this means blending design automation agents (knowledge from subject matter experts) with AI agents so that designing your next building is practical, fast, more enjoyable and gets you a buildable output!
3) PODIUM × Autodesk Forma: From Concept to Buildable
Finally, during the AECO Industry Keynote, Nicolas Mangon, VP for AEC Industry Strategy, showcased PODIUM x Autodesk Forma use case for data centers.
With our extension in Forma, teams can configure data-center specific parameters (i.e: power availability, rack configurations, cooling mechanisms) and instantly see performance and feasibility. The result is a tighter loop between planning and engineering, supporting teams to make clearer, more confident decisions much earlier in the process.
This integration marks a step-change for the AEC industry. Together, PODIUM and Forma bridge the gap between creative design and engineered reality, bringing clarity and constructability into the earliest stages of development.
Autodesk University 2025 showed us what’s possible when vision meets execution. For PODIUM, it was both validation of our mission and an invitation to keep pushing – supporting AEC professionals with the tools, workflows, and intelligence that they need to thrive in the AI era.
I was also fortunate to host a side session on “Accelerating Outcome-based BIM”, where I showcased how PODIUM supports not just data centers, but also residential and other building typologies. It was exciting to see the energy in the room and conversations that followed – proof that the future is here, and we’re building it at PODIUM.
Click here to watch my session on “Accelerating Outcome-based BIM” at the Autodesk University.
Curious about enabling the PODIUM extension in your Forma workflow or trying PODIUM? Contact us here and get to know more!
