The city of Gainesville and the University of Florida are partnering to expedite the development and design of construction projects using artificial intelligence (AI).

In a press release, the city of Gainesville announced AI will save time and money and provide more accurate, comprehensive and potentially life-saving reports on upcoming construction projects.

Developers must follow local ordinances specific to each municipality to receive approval for a proposed development, which can complicate design plans.

“Currently, the job of reviewing all of those submitted plans is the work of plan reviewers in municipal offices. They do the job of checking to confirm plans comply with local codes, ordinances and state regulations. This review process takes time. Larger projects can move quite slowly,” the release stated.

In 2017, Gainesville adopted a new digital permitting system to increase efficiency in the building permit and review process. The city sponsored a research grant at UF aimed to find ways to use AI to improve the plan review process. Both UF and the building department worked together for three years regarding code compliance methodology, which later expanded into planning reviews.

“I think in any industry that you’re in, you have to look for innovation and you have to be able to capture the resources around you,” said John Freeland, city of Gainesville building official, in the press release. “And in our community, we’re so fortunate to have the University of Florida here in our town.”

The city and UF partnership established a software development company called AutoReview.ai. The technology performed rapid, uniform, comprehensive and consistent code reviews using a combination of the real and virtual worlds,” according to the release. And when a file is uploaded into the web portal, the review software will deliver municipal compliance results within one to two days.

“Advances in technology and AI in the built and natural environment continue to evolve,” said Seth Watts, Director of Advancement, College of Design, Construction & Planning at the UF in the press release. “The ability for companies like AutoReview.ai to be an industry leader in advancing our industry and profession is exciting for the future.”