PODCAST | Bringing AI to the Synthesis Intranet Platform

Our own Christopher Parsons recently connected with Evan Troxel of TRXL Podcast and Randall Stevens of AVAIL for a deep dive into the Synthesis intranet platform and the roadmap for the integration of AI into Synthesis Next Generation Search and AI-Generated Video Transcriptions.

Christopher, Evan, and Randall also talked about the future of AI's impact on firmwide knowledge capture and improved search relevance. And finally, we got a sneak peek into the development of AEC-specific language models through Knowledge Architecture’s Community AI program.

It was really fun to talk through the journey and lessons learned along the way and we're really grateful to Evan and Randall for the opportunity.

If you are curious to learn about how major software projects are designed and managed and/or how AEC firms can take advantage of AI to improve their knowledge management programs — this episode of the Confluence Podcast is for you!

SYNTHESIS AI UPDATE | AEC-Specific Video Transcription Model Milestone

We've been building an AEC-specific AI model for video transcriptions for the last several months. We ran the first benchmarking of the first generation of this model yesterday against a baseline transcription model from Microsoft Azure.

One of the areas the KA-built AEC-specific model really shines so far is acronyms and product names, and I've shared some of the highlights in the attached images.

We've partnered with our clients to build this model (and we have another on the way) through our Community AI program, an opt-in program that will empower Knowledge Architecture to create AEC-specific AI Infrastructure by training AI models on client content for the mutual benefit of participating firms, while also protecting confidentiality and intellectual property.

Once released into a public beta in June as part of our Synthesis Video 2 update, the AEC-specific video transcription model should help our clients make videos both more accessible and searchable on their intranets, as well as save our intranet champions hours and hours of editing video captions.

We're really excited to share this milestone progress update with all of you and will keep you posted as we approach public beta.

To learn more about our product roadmap, including Community AI, Synthesis Video 2, Next Generation Search, and Synthesis LMS, please visit our roadmap page.

KA CONNECT 2024 | Speakers + Program

We’ve designed KA Connect 2024, our annual knowledge management conference for the AEC industry, to be “half conference, half camp,” with general sessions in the mornings, and a choose your own adventure program composed of roundtables, intranet tours, unconference hangouts, outdoor activities, and plenty of unstructured time to connect, reflect, and recharge in the afternoons.
 
Our program will focus on sharing strategies and best practices for using knowledge management, internal communications, learning + development, and intranet programs to help your AEC firm evolve and grow.
 
We're excited to announce our general session speakers today:

The Revolution of Knowledge Management at Turner Fleischer
Ellen Bensky, Partner, CEO and CFO, Turner Fleischer Architects

Behind the Scenes of ELEVATE: KTGY’s Professional Development Program
John Robison, COO, KTGY

Designing a Successful Hybrid Practice
Jim Chambers, VP, Practice Management, Shepley Bulfinch
Jim Martin, VP, CIO, Shepley Bulfinch

Knowledge Management: The Secret to Unlocking Sustainable Design
Corey Squire, Sustainability Director, Bora Architecture & Interiors

Lessons in Growth: Maintaining Authenticity in Design & Culture at Olson Kundig
Marlene Chen, Principal / Owner, COO, Olson Kundig

The Impact of Knowledge Management on a Growing and Evolving Page
John Clegg, Chief Design Innovation Officer, Senior Principal, Page
John Gloetzner, Chief Marketing Officer, Senior Principal, Page

Early Bird Registration Ends May 3rd

Take advantage of early registration pricing through May 3rd!

NEW ENHANCEMENTS to Search, Directories, and Libraries

We’re pleased to announce the upcoming release of new enhancements to Search, Directories, and Libraries.

At a high-level, here’s what’s in the update:

1. Improved Employee + Contact Name Search. We created a Global Name Synonym Catalog and enabled Fuzzy Search to help improve findability of employees and contacts. For example, if you search “jeff” we’ll now find “geoff” and “jeffrey,” and if you search on “diana” we’ll also find “diane” and “dina.”

2. Configurable Search Scopes for Directories + Libraries. You can now choose between Basic Search and Full Search scopes to create the search experience which is better for your firm. For example, the Basic Search option will streamline your Employee Directory search scope to Employee Names. Basic Search will also streamline your Project Directory search scope to Project Names, Project Numbers, and Client Names. The Full Search option will search all fields. Once the update is pushed out, your Directories will automatically be switched to Basic Search (you can easily switch them back to Full Search) and your Libraries will continue using Full Search.

3. Additional Sorting Options for Filters + Groups in Directories + Libraries. You will now be able to configure filters to sort alphabetically in Directories and Libraries. For custom dropdown fields, you’ll be able to configure filters to use the sort order of the dropdown values. In addition, you’ll be able to use the sort order of custom dropdown fields to order your groups.

We will deploy this update after the close of business on Friday, March 15th.

Enjoy!

Best,
Chris

What’s on the Synthesis Roadmap?

Learn more about new Synthesis features in development, in design, and planned for the future, as well as submit product ideas on our interactive product roadmap.

SYNTHESIS AI ROADMAP | Next Generation Search, Video Captions, and Community AI

Knowledge Architecture has been working on two major AI projects for the last six months — Next Generation Search and Video Captioning.

At the same time, we have been developing an opt-in program called Community AI to create AEC-specific AI Infrastructure by training AI models on client content for the mutual benefit of participating firms.

We’re super excited about what we’re building and we hope you are too.

AI-Powered Enterprise Search for AEC Firms

Next Generation Search will bring AI-powered Enterprise Search to Synthesis.

In this video, we share our approach to both AI and Enterprise Search, including:

• AI-Generated Search Summaries

• Three Challenges with End-User Facing Large Language Models (LLMs)

• Benefits of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)

• Vector Search Basics

• Benefits of Combining Keyword Search with Vector Search

• Community AI Program Overview

• Why We’re Building an AEC-Specific Embeddings Model

• Enterprise Search Roadmap

• Next Steps + Timeline for Public Beta

AI-Generated + AEC-Specific Video Captions

We’ll be releasing an update this spring that will add AI-generated captions, transcripts, and chapters, along with several other enhancements to Synthesis Native Video.

In this video, we go behind the scenes into:

• Our AI-Powered Video Captioning Infrastructure

• Community AI Program Overview

• Benefits of our AEC-Specific Video Transcription Model

• Next Steps + Release Timing

Introducing Our Community AI Program

Community AI is an opt-in program that will empower Knowledge Architecture to create AEC-specific AI Infrastructure by training AI models on client content for the mutual benefit of participating firms, while also protecting confidentiality and intellectual property.

In the pursuit of researching two use cases for AI — Next Generation Search and Video Captions — we discovered a unique opportunity to work with our AEC client community to achieve more relevant search results and better captioning.

Thus, Community AI was born.

PODCAST | Overhauling Knowledge Architecture’s Synthesis v6

Our own Christopher Parsons recently connected with Evan Troxel of TRXL Podcast and Randall Stevens of AVAIL to go behind the scenes of our transition to Synthesis 6, the story of building Knowledge Architecture, and a high-level overview of knowledge management and intranets in the AEC industry

It was really fun to talk through the journey and lessons learned along the way and we're really grateful to Evan and Randall for the opportunity.

If you are curious to learn about how major software projects are designed and managed and/or how AEC firms can make the best use of their knowledge, then this episode of the Confluence Podcast is for you!

Introducing Synthesis Responsive

We’re excited to announce Synthesis Responsive is now available in all Synthesis 6 environments. The release of Synthesis Responsive means all end user facing content and tools are fully available on mobile phones and tablets, as well as desktop and laptop screens of all sizes.

You can access Synthesis 6 on a phone or tablet using the same URL you are currently using on your desktop or laptop.

Enjoy!