AI

Exploring AI for the Utility Workforce

At SBS, we’re exploring how artificial intelligence can help utilities solve their most critical challenges, from accelerating design timelines to automating time-consuming compliance workflows. While these solutions are not commercial products today, they reflect the direction we believe the industry is headed. We’re seeking forward-thinking utilities to help shape and pilot these technologies. If you’re interested in bringing AI into your utility’s design, planning, or compliance workflows, we’d love to talk.

SubsGPT: AI-Powered Substation Design

Concept-to-construction substation proposals in hours, not weeks

  • Automatically generate 3D substation concepts using your standards
  • Fully populated multi-page proposals including drawings, BIM-ready 3D models, and bills of materials
  • One-click handoff to Autodesk Construction Cloud, SBS design apps, and Esri ArcGIS with full metadata

AI-trained on your templates and rules

SubsGPT AI agents ingest your proposal templates, design standards, and regulatory documents to automatically generate compliant designs. Enter a paragraph describing the station, and the system generates the full model, proposal, and supporting materials—ready for refinement or publishing.

Context-aware design using Esri Maps

With Esri integration, users can sketch potential site locations and select assets like transmission lines or wind turbines. The AI uses asset metadata and geolocation to build tailored designs in real-world context, significantly reducing upfront data preparation.

Improved site selection outcomes

Purpose-built agents for design, environmental, construction, and finance evaluate and compare sites, giving your team a clear, defensible set of recommendations instead of a black box result.

Collaborate and publish through Autodesk Construction Cloud

Once designs are generated, they’re ready for downstream workflows. Publish to Autodesk Construction Cloud to enable collaborative markup, clash detection, and issue tracking. With direct compatibility to downstream AutoCAD-based environments, design continuity is seamless.

Agentic AI: Automated Compliance Report QA/QC

Save months of engineering time with AI-powered reporting

  • Validate your FAC-008 and FAC-014 compliance reporting with AI
  • Extract data from CAD files, material lists, and handwritten annotations
  • Generate structured reports that trace every data point back to its source

AI trained for substation compliance

Agentic AI is purpose-built to process construction prints and streamline compliance reporting. It begins by analyzing one-line diagrams and identifying equipment IDs, then cross-references nameplate data, material lists, and even handwritten notes.

Computer vision optimized for utility drawings

A convolutional neural network trained with our object detection model enables the system to extract data from title blocks, revisions, and annotations with high accuracy, even from handwritten or scanned documents.

On-premises, secure, and customizable

All models run locally within your firewall, keeping your data secure. Choose your desired report type or export raw structured data to fit your workflow. Each report includes clickable traceability for easy verification.

Agent-driven architecture for accuracy and efficiency

Specialized AI agents manage orchestration, data indexing, visual analysis, and report generation. Final human review ensures accuracy before results are exported into your templates.