78% of AEC Firms Aren’t Ready for AI. Here’s What That Means for Your Firm.

A new industry report just dropped — and the numbers should get the attention of every AEC and government contracting leader in the country.

BST Global, one of the leading providers of project intelligence solutions for the AEC industry, released its “AI + Data Insights 2026: Global AEC Industry Report” on May 4, 2026. The findings come from its second annual AI + Data Survey, conducted with BST Global’s AI + Data Consortium and ACEC’s Technology Committee — technology leaders at AEC firms around the world.

The headline? The industry knows AI matters. It’s just not doing much about it.

Here’s what the data actually says — and what we think it means for firms in the Southeast trying to figure out where to start.

The Three Numbers That Tell the Story

You don’t need to read the full report to understand the situation. Three statistics capture it:

22%  of AEC firms feel highly prepared for AI integration.

38%  feel their firms are applying AI efforts appropriately to support business goals.

85%  do not anticipate AI replacing employees or roles.

Let’s sit with that first one for a moment. Only 22% of firms feel highly prepared. That means nearly 8 in 10 firms — including, statistically, your competitors — are either experimenting without direction, watching from the sidelines, or haven’t meaningfully engaged at all.

That’s not a technology gap. That’s a strategy gap.

The Industry Knows What It Should Do. It’s Just Not Doing It.

The second stat, only 38% feel their AI efforts are aligned to business goals. is the one that stands out most to us. It tells you that a meaningful portion of firms that ARE using AI are still doing it without a clear connection to outcomes.

They’re experimenting. Running pilots. Trying ChatGPT for a few weeks. And then struggling to point to what actually changed.

“Success with AI is less about experimentation and more about intentional strategy, trusted data and organizational readiness. Our goal with this research is to help firms cut through the noise and focus on practical, high‑value applications that drive real business outcomes.”— Eileen M. Canady, Chief Marketing Officer, BST Global

That framing from BST Global’s own CMO lines up exactly with what we see on the ground. The firms that are getting real ROI from AI aren’t the ones with the most tools. They’re the ones who got intentional about one specific workflow, proved it worked, and expanded from there.

The Fear Factor Is Real — And Manageable

Here’s the encouraging number: 85% of survey respondents do not anticipate AI replacing employees or roles.

But the report also notes that firms are actively working to combat fear and resistance from employees. Those two things can coexist — leadership can be intellectually confident that AI won’t eliminate jobs while still watching their teams resist adoption in practice.

The firms navigating this well are doing a few things differently:

→  They start with workflows people already find painful. Nobody resists automating the thing they hate doing.

→  They involve the team in defining what gets automated, rather than rolling it out top-down.

→  They frame AI as giving time back — not as a performance measurement tool.

The workforce conversation is cultural as much as it is technical. And it’s one most firms underestimate.

What About Data Security? It’s Still the Top Concern.

The report identifies data accuracy and security as the top risks firms are working to mitigate — though overall concern has diminished compared to last year. That’s a reasonable trajectory: as firms get more experience with AI tools, they develop better instincts for where the real risks are.

For AEC firms and government contractors specifically, data risk isn’t abstract. You’re handling project data, proprietary methodologies, sometimes controlled unclassified information. The question isn’t whether to be careful — it’s whether you have a documented, defensible approach to how AI touches your data.

That documentation matters more every year. Federal contracting requirements around AI use and data governance are tightening. If your firm can’t articulate how it handles government data in AI workflows, that’s a gap that will show up in contract reviews.

So What Do You Actually Do With This?

The BST report also features a sharp line from Tembi Hommes, Global Chief Data Officer at Arup:

“This space is evolving. Let it evolve. Automate everything you can. Automating the ways of working is table stakes. It is not an option. Companies that can do that will become more agile. They can pivot faster.”

We agree. But “automate everything you can” sounds overwhelming when you’re not sure where to start. So here’s a practical frame:

→  Identify your top three time-draining, error-prone workflows. Not everything — just three.

→  Ask honestly: does our team understand how AI tools use our data? Do we have any documentation of this?

→  Pick one workflow. Build something small and real. Measure the time saved. Then expand.

The gap between the 22% who feel highly prepared and everyone else isn’t talent or budget.

It’s the decision to start intentionally rather than waiting for the perfect moment.

The Arvaya Take

We work with AEC firms and government contractors in the Southeast who are somewhere in that 78% — not because they’re behind, but because AI automation in these industries is genuinely complex, and the off-the-shelf solutions don’t account for how your firm actually operates.

The BST Global report is valuable precisely because it confirms what we see every week: the readiness gap is real, it’s wide, and the firms that close it first will have a durable competitive advantage — not just a efficiency win.

If you want to talk through where your firm sits and what a starting point might look like, that’s exactly what we’re here for.

Source

BST Global — “AI + Data Insights 2026: Global AEC Industry Report” (May 4, 2026): www.BSTGlobal.com