Autodesk University 2026: What We Brought Home from Las Vegas

Autodesk University has a sound of its own. It starts in the hallways before the first keynote: thousands of architects, engineers, builders and technologists talking over one another about the same problems from different sides of the table. This year in Las Vegas, that sound had a sharper edge. Less curiosity, more urgency. People had stopped asking whether AI would change how we design and build. They wanted to know what to do about it on Monday.

Our teams from Symetri and Symetri USA spent the week in sessions and in conversations that ran well past dinner. We came home tired, a little overstimulated, and more certain than we've been in years about where this industry is heading.

The work around the work is finally in the crosshairs

Every architect knows the feeling. Three ideas you'd love to try, and time to properly explore one. Autodesk spent much of its stage time on that gap. Building Layout Explorer in Forma generates layouts from a massing model while respecting the unit mix you set. In Revit, Autodesk Assistant takes on the afternoon-eating chore of fixing tags view by view, proposing changes across a sheet set that the designer accepts or rejects. On the construction side, agents search project documents in plain language and check submittals against the spec before a missing detail becomes rework.

What struck us was the restraint. Nobody on stage claimed the software would design the building. The architect still drives. The project engineer still makes the call. The machine clears the desk so the professional has room to think.

For the people who spend the rest of the year putting this technology to work on customer projects, the value of the week is the early view it gives them.

Autodesk University continues to be one of the most valuable investments we make as an organization. It provides direct access to Autodesk's product leaders and development teams, giving us early insight into the technologies, strategies, and innovations that will shape the future of the industries we serve. Artificial Intelligence was a central theme throughout the event, and the opportunity to engage directly with Autodesk allowed us to better understand not only how AI is being integrated into their solutions today, but also how these capabilities will evolve to help our customers improve productivity, decision-making, and business outcomes in the years ahead.

 

Oliver Turan, Professional Services Manager - AECO

Construction software is learning who's using it

For years, the hardest part of any construction platform rollout has been the distance between the three people who configured it and the forty who were supposed to use it. Autodesk's answer at AU26 was to shape the experience around the person. Project Home Insights brings each user the items that need their attention, with links back to the source. Workflow Studio lets teams assemble their own processes with drag and drop. The Daily Log Agent lets a superintendent speak the day's updates into a phone and get back a structured record to review.

We've watched good platforms stall because only the power users felt at home in them. Designing around roles is how a tool stops being the BIM coordinator's project and becomes the whole team's habit.

The same intent showed up everywhere, from the keynote stage to the exhibit hall floor.

One thing that really stood out to me at AU 2026 was how much ADSK is focused on connected data and connected workflows. It felt like every keynote, executive briefing, and product discussion came back to breaking down silos between teams, applications, and project phases. The vision seems less about individual tools and more about creating a connected ecosystem where information flows from planning and design through construction and operations.

 

The other thing I noticed walking the exhibit hall was that almost every vendor had an AI story. Whether it was automation, project intelligence, content generation, analytics, or workflow optimization, everyone seemed to be working on ways to help customers get more done with the same resources. AI is clearly no longer a future concept. It's becoming part of the day-to-day tools our customers use.

 

Michael Rotolo, National Director - AECO

From the site plan to the ground beneath it

Some of the most ambitious news was for infrastructure. Forma for Buildings, now generally available, runs from a blank site to detailed design, and Civil 3D is on the path to becoming a connected client alongside Revit, linking the desktop rather than replacing it. A Fugro integration turns borehole logs and lab results into a versioned 3D ground model in Civil 3D, and expanded Esri integrations carry geospatial context into Forma.

Underground conditions can make or break a project. Seeing them early, in the same model everyone else is working from, changes the conversation in the room.

The unglamorous foundation: data you can trust

If one thread ran through every keynote, it was data. Forma Data Management's Smart Controls grant access based on metadata such as approval status, in support of ISO 19650 workflows. Drawing Change Analysis shows what actually changed between revisions. Forma Board turns review into a live space tied to the current model instead of last week's screenshots. In the corridors, talk kept circling back to Model Context Protocol (MCP) and trusted AI.

The lesson is simple enough to fit on a sticky note: AI amplifies whatever data you feed it. The firms that get the most from what Autodesk showed in Las Vegas will be the ones doing the patient work now, on naming standards, clean templates and clear governance.

Which means the firms that benefit most will not be the ones that move first.

AU 2026 reinforced that the future of AECO will be built on connected data, connected workflows, and AI-powered capabilities. What struck me most was that AI is no longer a shiny new object or future concept, it's becoming part of everyday workflows. The organizations that will see the greatest benefit won't be those adopting AI the fastest, but those aligning it to strategic business objectives and using it to drive measurable improvements in efficiency, project delivery/outcomes, and business performance.

Tom Sidorkewicz, Sales Manager - AECO

What we'd do on Monday morning

• Executives: choose one business problem AI could shorten, and make data readiness a budget line rather than a side project.
• Operations leaders: map where information gets retyped, rechecked or lost between teams. That is where agents will land first.
• Technology leaders: take an honest inventory of the Autodesk tools you already own, and how deeply they're used, before adding anything new.

The order of those steps matters more than the speed of them.

I think you can see where this is going, it was a pretty structured deliverable from Autodesk @ AU... AI is with us, not a future consideration. One interesting thing was Autodesk is offloading the work to the consumers (allowing Autodesk Assistant to connect to user MCP etc).

Big take away for me was... Standards for AI implementation and project data are more important than just jumping in. So, without structured project data, there is no AI automation, get your ducks in order before trying to implement AI

Drew Jarvis, Technical Consultant AECO

Leaving Las Vegas

Most of what we saw is still on the roadmap. A week like AU26 is worth more for the picture it leaves you with than for any single feature: a clearer view of where the work is going, and time to get ready before it arrives. We left inspired, with a long list of conversations we want to keep having.

Some of those conversations were not with Autodesk at all, but with colleagues we had only ever met on a call.

We at SolidCAD-Symetri Canada also benefited tremendously from the opportunity to connect with our expanding global Symetri organization. Meeting colleagues from across the United States, Europe, and South America reinforced the depth of expertise, industry knowledge, and technical capabilities available throughout our worldwide team. These connections strengthen our ability to deliver greater value to customers across Canada by giving us access to a broader network of professional consultants, specialists, and proven solutions. I used the event to learn more about the methodologies, toolsets, and best practices being leveraged across our global teams, ensuring we can continue bringing world-class expertise and innovation to our clients.

A particularly strong example of this global collaboration is the ongoing development of Symetri's solutions for Revit, which my team actively supports, as well as ForgeFlow, a platform we have already leveraged successfully to deliver customer integration projects between ACC/Forma Construction, and other business systems. Seeing the continued investment in these solutions further demonstrated the strength of our growing international organization and our ability to combine consulting expertise with purpose-built software innovations that help customers solve complex business challenges.

 

Oliver Turan, Professional Services Manager - AECO

If you'd like to talk through what these announcements mean for your firm, whether that's AI readiness, your Autodesk Construction Cloud strategy, data planning or an adoption roadmap, the Symetri and Symetri USA teams would be glad to pick up where Las Vegas left off.

Start the conversation.