Delegates at the Landscape Institute’s conference last week heard how artificial intelligence (AI) can be a “sidekick” but that “there can’t be an over reliance on the tool”.

Panellist Harvey Kirchgaesser, a graduate landscape architect at WSP, told those who attended the Digital Practice & Technology for Landscape conference in London that this could lead to a loss of skill, thought and processes in landscape architecture.

AI can be a “touchy subject for some” who are concerned about cybersecurity, data protection and biases too. But carrying out a self-assessment can help to determine how the available tools might improve efficiency which could help to build a business case for introducing AI into a company, said Kirchgaesser.

The panel – AI and Landscape Practice: Navigating the Future and its Challenges – was chaired by Mike Shilton, director of product management at Transoft Solutions and included Tamae Isomura, senior landscape architect at Ground Control.

Isomura advised going in with “a blank canvas” in mind when using AI tools and asking whether AI needs to be used for that particular task, and vice versa – where AI could be used for mundane tasks.

She said that AI shouldn’t replace jobs, but job descriptions might need “redefining”. There will “always be a need for human input”, agrees Kirchgaesser, who sees roles potentially adapting and the “fundamentals” of landscape architecture such as sketching needing to remain.

In his mind, there are two key benefits of AI: the processing speed to analyse data and the extra time this offers for creativity, and the different outlooks it can provide.

“Prompting is key,” added Kirchgaesser, referring to how people interact with AI in order to reach the desired result. Kirchgaesser said that the better and more informative the prompt, the better the outcome.

There is a risk that landscape architects might face “more pressure potentially” to turn around work faster if using AI, he says. Fee structures might also change, says Isomura. Early adopters might profit more initially, but the benefit will fade fast, she reckons.

The Landscape Institute’s Digital Practice & Technology for Landscape conference was opened by former Tomorrow’s World presenter Kate Bellingham. She told delegates to “embrace opportunity”- that “it’s not about the technology itself but how it can be used and what it can do for us.” Bellingham “can understand wariness” but said we can benefit from others’ experiences and consider what could soon become second nature.