Why AI Transparency Matters in Building Technology
- Resolute Team Member
- Feb 18, 2021
- 3 min read
AI-diocracy: Algorithms, What Buildings Crave
Summary:
AI can improve building performance, but only when facility teams understand what the technology is actually doing. In building technology, transparency means clearly explaining how algorithms analyze BAS data, identify issues, recommend actions, and, when applicable, influence equipment control. Without that clarity, AI becomes another vague buzzword instead of a trusted operational tool.
The "A" Word: Why AI Needs Transparency in Building Technology
There's a buzzword circulating throughout the buildings and IoT industry — and if you've been in this space over the past year, you've seen it plastered across marketing materials everywhere: AI (artificial intelligence).
AI is a genuinely exciting concept. Its future presence in buildings isn't just inevitable — it's necessary to realize a truly "smart" building infrastructure. My concern isn't with the technology itself, but with how it's being presented in this space. We're taking a vast, overarching concept and squeezing it to fit inside a company's product line. The more we try to monetize AI, the vaguer its definition becomes.
AI Is Not the Problem — Vague Messaging Is
This brings me to the title of this post. When I try to understand how various products are actually using AI, one word keeps appearing: algorithms. Oxford defines it as "a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer."
That definition is dangerously close in scope to another former buzzword: analytics, "the systematic computational analysis of data or statistics."
Analytics had its moment in the sun too. And like AI, it's genuinely useful, it loosely means analyzing data sets, which sounds great. But it doesn't describe what specific outcomes you'll see from a product, and it's frequently used to advertise "energy savings" without any supporting detail. That leaves buyers having to simply trust the salesperson, with no verifiable process to track or benchmark against their own expectations.
AI Is Headed Down the Same Path
This is exactly where I see AI going, and it's why product transparency matters so much right now.
When I see messaging like "we use complex algorithms to help operate your buildings more efficiently and save you energy," what I want to know is: what are those algorithms actually programmed to do? If software is going to run inside a property I oversee, I need more than a vague explanation that amounts to "we're using math to find efficiencies."
This becomes critical when you consider the real goal: a fully autonomous building, one where a computer operates systems with little to no human interaction. If commands are being sent to critical equipment, I need a clear understanding of the underlying logic. What is actually conditioning my spaces? What is controlling complex mechanical systems?
Efficiency — It's What Buildings Crave.
Transparency Accelerates Adoption — Obscurity Kills It
Artificial intelligence is changing the world for the better. But we can slow that adoption far more effectively through poor, dishonest, and incomplete explanations than we can accelerate it through hype.
If we approach this honestly, building shared understanding with building owners and operators, we can get to that smarter building future much faster. The alternative, which is unfortunately where things are trending, leads to disappointed and jaded consumers who greet the next breakthrough with immediate skepticism.
We've seen that movie before. Let's not repeat it with AI.
AI should make building operations clearer, not harder to trust.
See how Resolute connects, configures, and helps teams use their existing BAS data with confidence.
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