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AI at the Crossroads: Paris Summit, GPT-5, and Industry Disruptions

France’s $112B AI push, GPT-5’s breakthrough, our PMG partnership, Perplexity’s fastest AI search, and the UK’s AI stance—this week’s biggest shifts in AI.

February 18, 2025

Proudly sponsored by ConstructAI, brought to you by Weston Analytics

The Paris AI Summit brought together world leaders, tech giants, and policymakers to shape the future of artificial intelligence. Co-chaired by France and India, the summit tackled AI’s ethical, economic, and security challenges, with key announcements from global figures. France’s $112 billion AI push, U.S. policy shifts under JD Vance, and Anthropic’s warnings on AI risks highlight the balance between innovation, governance, and security that will define AI’s role in 2025 and beyond.

What Does This Mean for Me?

For professionals in project delivery, AI’s evolution means new tools, improved efficiency, and increased automation across industries. Whether in construction, energy, real estate, or healthcare, AI’s integration will impact workflows, decision-making, and regulatory compliance. Staying ahead of these changes is crucial for leveraging AI’s full potential while mitigating risks.

Key Themes & Developments

  • Paris AI Summit’s Global Impact: Attended by over 80 countries, tech leaders, and policymakers, the summit focused on AI governance, innovation, and ethical challenges.

  • France’s $112B AI Investment: President Macron unveiled a massive AI investment, aiming to position France as a global leader. Plans include a Paris-based AI institution and training 100,000 professionals. More details here.

  • JD Vance’s Pro-Growth AI Policies: The U.S. prioritises innovation over regulation, aiming to keep AI development competitive while avoiding overreach seen in European policies.

  • Anthropic’s AI Oversight Warning: CEO Dario Amodei stressed the importance of democratic nations leading AI to counter authoritarian risks. He also introduced the Anthropic Economic Index to monitor AI’s industry-wide impact.

  • UK’s Independent AI Stance: The UK opted out of the Global AI Agreement, preferring to shape its AI policies independently while preparing for its own AI Safety Summit. More insights here.

Down the Rabbit Hole

Project Flux & Project Management Global: Elevating AI & Project Management Together

We’re excited to announce a new collaboration between Project Flux and Project Management Global! This partnership is about mutual promotion and support, ensuring project professionals stay informed and empowered in both AI and broader project management trends.

Why This Collaboration Matters

Project Management Global has always been at the forefront of providing project managers with the latest insights across industries. With AI revolutionising project delivery, this collaboration ensures that professionals receive both AI-driven insights from Project Flux and broader project management stories from Project Management Global.

What does this mean for you?

  • Weekly AI Insights: Project Flux will provide expert analysis on AI’s role in project management, featured regularly in Project Management Global.

  • Expanded Reach & Engagement: Project Management Global will help extend Project Flux’s content beyond AI, offering broader project management insights.

  • Practical Tools & Resources: Expect hands-on guides, frameworks, and strategies to improve project efficiency.

  • Industry Thought Leadership: Gain perspectives from experts shaping both AI and project management landscapes.

A Perfect Fit

As Nicola Benjamin, Founder of Project Management Global, put it: “AI is not something to fear—it’s a tool that project managers need to embrace. This collaboration ensures that our community stays ahead of the curve, learning how to integrate AI effectively into their workflows.”

At Project Flux, we’ve always championed AI’s role in enhancing productivity and decision-making. James Garner, our co-founder, highlighted the synergy: “By featuring in Project Management Global, we can extend our AI expertise to a wider audience while also benefiting from their deep project management insights.”

What’s Next?

In the coming weeks, you’ll see exclusive content, joint research, and collaborative discussions shaping the future of AI in project management. From AI-powered risk management to automation in scheduling, we’re covering it all.

We’re incredibly excited about this journey, and we’d love for you to be part of it. Stay tuned for more updates, insights, and game-changing strategies!

Visit Project Management Global to explore how this collaboration will benefit you.

What’s new: Tech

What are two major frustrations with AI chatbots? Response time and inaccuracy. What’s more, is that with newer reasoning models that deliberate and think, timing becomes even slower. 

So with this dilemma, how do you carve out opportunity and deliver a tool that is fast, and I mean really fast - yet, improve on readability and factuality? You do what Perplexity have done and build a new, near-instant search model. 

Appropriately named “Sonar”, here’s what you need to know about the week-old search model:

  • Quality Focus: It’s designed to deliver high-quality answers with clear, optimised source references.

  • Up-to-Date Information: It maintains real-time internet connectivity, ensuring that the information provided is current.

  • User Experience: Users report it to be more satisfying than alternatives like Claude 3.5 Sonnet and GPT-4o.

  • Performance: It outperforms similar models such as GPT-4o Mini and Claude 3.5 Haiku in terms of pure performance.

  • Solid Foundation: It’s built on Meta's open-source Llama 3.3 70B model.

  • Speed: It offers near-instant responses, processing 1200 tokens per second compared to just 75 tokens per second with some competitors.

  • Innovative Hardware: It utilises novel wafer-scale chips from Cerebras Systems to boost performance.

  • Exclusive Access: Currently, it’s available only to Perplexity Pro subscribers.

  • Product Variants: There are four versions available—Sonar, Sonar Pro, Sonar Reasoning, and Sonar Reasoning Pro—to cater to different needs.

  • Developer-Centric: It’s primarily designed as a developer-focused API.

Our recommendation is to use the new model when you want a fast search response with high accuracy. The responses are to-the-point but can lack depth and thought. It’s not the model to use when you’re working with tasks that require planning or reasoning.

It’s also difficult to know if your Perplexity is using Sonar by default. If you can’t tell check your settings and turn it on. If you still don’t know, click the button at the bottom of the output to rerun your prompt - here you’ll see the option to rerun with Sonar. It’s lighting quick.

Down the Rabbit Hole

💙 Other tech news we’re loving

1. OpenAI’s Next Leap: GPT-5 and Deep Research - OpenAI is set to launch GPT-4.5 soon, with GPT-5 following in months. This update will unify voice, image, search, and deep research into one AI-driven ecosystem—making advanced AI tools accessible for all.

2. The Cost of AI: 10x Cheaper Every Year - Sam Altman explores how AI costs are plummeting, driving mass adoption. Plus, OpenAI’s Super Bowl ad signals a cultural shift, showcasing AI as an everyday companion in work and life.

3. Apple’s Humanoid Robot Ambitions - Apple is reportedly developing a humanoid robot, signalling a push into AI-powered automation. Could this be the future of personal assistants and workforce augmentation?

4. Anthropic’s Hybrid AI Mode: The Next Big Leap? -Anthropic is working on a hybrid AI model that blends reasoning with intuition. This could make AI interactions more fluid, natural, and human-like.

5. Elon Musk’s $97B OpenAI Takeover Drama -Elon Musk’s bid for OpenAI comes with a major condition—he’ll drop the deal if OpenAI remains non-profit. The battle for AI control is heating up.

6. OpenAI Drops Content Warnings in ChatGPT - OpenAI is giving its AI models more freedom by removing some content warnings, enabling more open discussions. A step toward unbiased AI or a risk for misinformation?

7. AI-Generated Video Comes to YouTube Shorts - YouTube is integrating Veo 2, allowing users to create high-quality AI-generated videos from simple text prompts. A game-changer for content creators.

8. ChatGPT Search Now Open to Everyone - Now, anyone can use ChatGPT Search without an account. OpenAI is making AI-powered research more accessible than ever.

9. Grok 3 is Almost Here - Elon Musk confirms Grok 3 is just weeks away. Will it disrupt the AI landscape, or is it just hype?

10. AI’s Role in Terrorism: Google’s Ex-CEO Speaks Out - Former Google CEO warns that AI could be weaponised for terrorism. Are we prepared for the risks?

11. OpenAI to Build Its Own AI Chips - OpenAI is set to finalise its first custom AI chip design this year, reducing reliance on Nvidia.

12. Mistral Le Chat: AI at 1,000 Words per Second -Mistral’s new AI assistant can generate responses at 1,000 words per second. A productivity powerhouse?

Presented by Cogram

Cogram is an AI assistant specifically designed for AEC to help professionals save time on documentation and prevent disputes. 

  • Automated meeting minutes: Cogram drafts meeting minutes directly in your company’s template with tailored levels of detail, format, and style.

  • Works for virtual and in-person meetings: Cogram works across Zoom, Teams, and in-person meetings, such as site inspections and kick-off meetings. 

  • Field reports in minutes: Cogram’s mobile app combines site photos with minutes from on-site discussions to draft field reports in minutes.

  • Project-wide insights: Ask questions about your projects and get answers drawn from every relevant meeting and email chain from that project for the most up-to-date information. 

What’s new: Projects

AI is transforming the construction industry, enhancing efficiency, safety and decision-making. However, responsible implementation is essential to managing risks. The UK Government’s AI Playbook, primarily developed for the public sector, provides 10 principles for the safe, ethical, and effective use of AI offering helpful lessons for construction.

Understanding AI’s limitations

AI depends on high-quality data, which is often inconsistent in construction, leading to unreliable outputs. While AI can predict risks and support decision-making, it lacks contextual understanding and transparency. Human oversight, validation and intervention are vital to ensuring trustworthy AI outputs. 

Ethical, secure and responsible AI use

Organisations must ensure the lawful and ethical use of AI, considering data privacy, bias and security. Growing cyber threats, including AI-driven attacks, necessitate secure AI models, access controls and workforce training to protect infrastructure and data.

Managing AI throughout its lifecycle

Selecting the right AI tools and monitoring for bias drift and inaccuracies ensures reliability and usefulness. Establishing a structured AI governance framework helps maintain compliance, security and operational effectiveness.

Collaboration and adoption

Successful AI adoption requires industry-wide collaboration, knowledge-sharing and transparent procurement. Ensuring fair and responsible AI contracts fosters trust and accountability.

Conclusion

To maximise AI’s potential, construction firms must invest in skills, governance and continuous learning. By aligning with the AI Playbook, the construction industry can integrate AI safely and effectively, shaping a more innovative and secure future.

Read the full blog here

💙 Other Project news we’re loving

1. UK AI Firm Secures Prime Office Space - A leading UK generative AI company has signed a lease at 20 Triton Street, marking a major commitment to physical office space despite the remote work trend. This move signals confidence in London as a hub for AI innovation and collaboration.

2. UK Government Launches AI Growth Zones - The government has opened bidding for new AI Growth Zones, aiming to boost AI-driven economic development. These zones will offer incentives for AI startups and infrastructure projects, positioning the UK as a global leader in AI research and deployment.

What’s new: Productivity

In a recent blog, Sam Altman shares a bold vision for Artificial General Intelligence—one that promises to reshape our world much like the transistor revolutionised technology. Altman suggests that with sustained investment, AGI will achieve human-level performance across a broad range of tasks, scaling predictably as resource inputs increase and costs plummet. His perspective is twofold: AGI has the potential to empower individuals by democratising access to collective intelligence, yet it also poses the risk of consolidating power in fewer hands if not managed carefully. This comes at a time where Sam has just announced GPT-5 and a convergence of ChatGPT’s models for better usability.

For project professionals, especially those in construction and related fields, this vision is both exciting and challenging. Imagine a future where routine tasks—from scheduling to risk analysis—are handled by AI, allowing project managers and teams to focus on strategic decisions and creative problem-solving. Altman’s striking assertion that “anyone in 2035 should be able to marshall the intellectual capacity equivalent to everyone in 2025” hints at a world where roles such as project controllers, risk managers, and cost analysts may merge into more integrated, agile functions.

The takeaway? Embracing traits like resilience, adaptability, agency, and determination will be essential. As technology advances, cultivating these qualities will empower professionals to navigate change, ensuring that while AGI transforms our work, the human spirit of innovation and ethical oversight remains at the heart of every project.

Stay curious and prepared—the future of project management is on the horizon, inviting us all to evolve alongside it.

The rabbit hole

💙 Other productivity news we’re loving

1. OpenAI & SoftBank: Automating White-Collar Work - OpenAI and SoftBank are teaming up to integrate AI into white-collar workflows, raising concerns about large-scale job automation. Will this boost productivity or accelerate job losses in professional sectors?

2. Law Firm Limits AI Use After Surge in Adoption - A major law firm has restricted AI tools after excessive staff reliance. This highlights the growing tension between AI-driven efficiency and the need for human oversight in professional services.

These are my thoughts: AI is evolving from a tool to an autonomous force, reshaping business operations. This speculative roadmap outlines three phases: AI-led project management (2025–2027), AI governance and trust systems (2028–2030), and AI-driven economies (2031+). As AI takes the lead, human roles will shift to vision and storytelling. Read more here.

TIP OF THE WEEK - Echo Writing

Instead of just telling the AI what you want, show it a sample of your writing first. Then ask it to match your tone, structure, and all those little quirks that make your style yours.

Pro tip: consistency is everything. The more examples you give, the better the AI gets at nailing your voice. Give it a shot!

Podcasts of the Week

The Truth Behind DeepSeek’s Impact on AEC

In this episode, Alan Mosca unpacks how AI is transforming architecture, engineering, and construction. From automated design to predictive analytics, DeepSeek is reshaping workflows and decision-making. Tune in to explore the real-world impact and future potential of AI in construction.

“It’s the People, Stupid!” – Why AI Alone Can’t Fix Projects

Dr Ronald Dyer argues that AI can enhance project delivery, but human leadership remains essential. He explores why culture, collaboration, and adaptability are just as crucial as technology. A must-listen for professionals navigating AI’s role in project management.

“The Truth About DeepSeek’s Impact on AEC”

Naval Ravikant joins the All-In Podcast to discuss AI’s transformation of architecture, engineering, and construction. From automation to predictive analytics, DeepSeek is revolutionising workflows. Is AI a tool or a disruptor? Tune in for an insightful debate on the future of project delivery and the evolving role of technology in AEC.

AI Won’t Replace You—But It Might Replace Most of Your Job

Meet Project Flux: About Us

At Project Flux, we're committed to pioneering the future of construction and project delivery through the lens of cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence insights. Our vision is to be at the forefront of integrating AI into the fabric of project delivery, transforming how projects are conceptualised, planned, and executed.

Our Mission Project Flux aims to not only inform and educate but also to inspire professionals in the construction industry to embrace the transformative potential of AI. We believe in the power of AI to revolutionise project delivery, making it more efficient, predictive, and adaptable to the dynamic demands of the modern world.

What We Offer Through our insightful newsletters, podcasts and curated content on LinkedIn, and engaging discussions, Project Flux serves as a resource for professionals seeking to stay ahead in their field. We offer a blend of practical advice, thought leadership, and the latest developments in AI and construction technology.

What People Say…

“It was a real pleasure being a guest on the Project Flux podcast. James and Yoshi are really on top of things when it comes to AI in general and its application in project management specifically. If you just have a few minutes a week have a read through their newsletter so you can stay informed. If you have just a bit more time, they know how to ask the right questions in the podcast."

Nicki Kons, risk and project management expert