ArchitectAI: Building an AI Chatbot for ADA Regulations and IBC 2021 Compliance

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Key Terms Overview:

• ADA: Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990; A civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities in all areas of public life. 

• IBC: International Building Code; A model building code that establishes the minimum requirements for building design to protect public health and safety. 

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Navigating the Regulatory Maze

Ensuring ADA compliance is essential for nearly all buildings, yet navigating the complex web of accessibility regulations and building codes can be overwhelming. Architects, builders, and engineers often spend countless hours researching specific requirements across multiple documents, trying to interpret how ADA regulations intersect with the International Building Code. Building professionals need to maintain familiarity with ADA and relevant building codes to ensure proper implementation, and the sheer volume of information makes this difficult.

Achieving code compliance requires understanding numerous code sections. Traditional methods of regulatory research involve:

• Manual searches through lengthy code books

• Cross-referencing between multiple regulatory documents

• Consulting with expensive specialists

• Attending time-consuming training sessions

These approaches are inefficient and can lead to missed requirements or misinterpretations. The need for a more accessible solution became clear – one that could provide instant, accurate answers to specific regulatory questions.

Introducing ArchitectAI: An ADA Compliant Chatbot

Video demonstration showing chatbot implementation within basic Streamlit user interface.

This challenge inspired the creation of ArchitectAI, an AI chatbot for compliance that helps users quickly find answers to their questions about ADA regulations and related sections in the 2021 IBC. By leveraging advanced natural language processing and machine learning, this tool transforms how building professionals access and interpret regulatory information.

My ADA compliant chatbot helps ensure projects meet accessibility standards by providing immediate answers to regulatory questions. ArchitectAI is designed to understand natural language queries about accessibility requirements and building codes, then retrieve relevant information from a comprehensive database of ADA regulations and IBC 2021 sections.

The chatbot technology behind ArchitectAI enables natural language understanding of complex queries. Users can ask questions in plain English, just as they would when consulting with a colleague or consultant.

How ArchitectAI Works: The Technical Architecture

The above flowchart shows how the chatbot processes queries and retrieves information from the database.

Implementing AI for regulatory interpretation helps streamline the compliance process. ArchitectAI uses a straight-forward architecture that combines several key technologies:

Document Processing: The system loads regulatory documents from multiple sources (CSV files, PDFs) and processes them for efficient retrieval.

Natural Language Understanding: Using OpenAI’s GPT-4 model, the chatbot interprets user questions about specific regulations.

Vector-Based Search: The system creates embeddings of regulatory text to enable semantic searching beyond simple keyword matching.

Conversational Memory: ArchitectAI maintains context throughout a conversation, allowing for follow-up questions.

Looking at the sample code below, we can see how a chatbot processes and retrieves regulatory information with a few lines of simple code:

Sample python code that defines the key elements to creating a chatbot: 1) language model with appropriate API key, 2) retriever that references your database, 3) conversation memory, 4) conversational retrieval chain.

The above snippet shows how the chatbot creates a conversational retrieval chain that connects the language model (in this case, GPT-4) with the vector store of regulatory information. The system maintains conversation history and returns source documents to provide transparency about where information comes from. Providing source information is critical for users in the event they want to double-check the chatbot’s response.

Key Features and Benefits of ArchitectAI

ArchitectAI offers several powerful features:

• Natural Language Queries: Users ask questions conversationally about specific ADA or IBC requirements.

• Cross-Reference Capability: The system automatically identifies relationships between ADA regulations and IBC 2021 sections, and the user-provided query. 

• Source Documentation: Answers include references to specific IBC sections, ensuring transparency and verifiability.

• Conversation History: The chatbot maintains context throughout a session, allowing for natural follow-up questions.

• Comprehensive Coverage: The system includes the full text of ADA regulations and relevant IBC 2021 sections.

• Scalable Use: The database can grow to include more IBC sections and documents from additional regulatory bodies. The chatbot architecture will be able to reference all new information without requiring a programming overhaul. 

Setting Up Your Own ADA Compliance Chatbot

Our solution leverages AI for ADA regulations research and question answering. If you’re interested in implementing ArchitectAI for your organization, here’s how to get started:

1. Data Preparation: Gather your regulatory documents (CSV files, PDFs) in organized folders.

2. Environment Setup: Configure your Python environment with the necessary dependencies.

3. API Configuration: Set up your OpenAI API key for access to the GPT-4 model.

4. Customization: Modify the code database to focus on specific regulations relevant to your project(s).

5. Deployment: Launch the application using Streamlit for a user-friendly interface.

Go to Github for Comprehensive Instructions

Future Directions for Regulatory AI

The future of regulatory compliance includes AI to streamline its assistance to building professionals. As ArchitectAI continues to evolve, several enhancements are planned:

1. Multi-Modal Capabilities: Adding the ability to analyze floor plans and identify potential compliance issues.

2. Integration with Design Software: Connecting directly with CAD and BIM software to check designs in real-time.

3. Regulatory Updates: Automatically incorporating new regulations and interpretations as they’re published.

Advanced chatbot technology powers our regulatory compliance assistant, and the potential for future development is significant. As AI capabilities continue to advance, the system will become even more powerful and intuitive. We designed this tool to simplify code navigation, and we’re excited to see how it transforms the compliance process for organizations across the A/E/C industry.