Autodesk AU 2025 General Session: Shaping the Future of Making

Hanen Bdioui

28 September 2025 6 mins to read

The Autodesk University 2025 (AU 2025) General Session opened with a bold message from Andrew Anagnost, President and CEO of Autodesk. His keynote framed this moment in history as one of consequence: a crossroads between scarcity and abundance, dystopia and utopia.

“The choices we make over the next five years will shape our world for the next fifty,” Andrew said. “We are on a knife edge. Scarcity is gaining ground. But together, we can unlock unlimited capacity.”

With that, Autodesk introduced sweeping innovations across its three industry clouds – Forma, Fusion, and Flow each designed to connect people, processes, and data across project lifecycles.

Facing Scarcity with Technology

Andrew began by acknowledging today’s challenges: strained supply chains, labor shortages, geopolitical tensions, and resource scarcity. Despite this, he struck an optimistic tone, pointing to AI and cloud workflows as accelerators of progress.

This vision set the stage for a series of live demonstrations by Autodesk experts and industry leaders.

Forma: Redefining AEC with AI and the Cloud

Autodesk positioned Forma as the first comprehensive AEC industry cloud, connecting design and construction while embedding AI at its core.

Robin Franke — Adoption Specialist Product, Led Sales, Autodesk

Robin Franke, an architect by training and Autodesk product expert, demonstrated Forma’s new building design capabilities.

She converted simple building masses into detailed designs with windows, facades, and balconies.
Real-time daylight analysis exposed problem areas, which she corrected instantly by shifting building geometry.
By setting just a few parameters, she used AI to scale a multifamily housing project from 36 to 56 units in seconds.

Andrew paused to emphasize the transformation:

“She’s not modeling. The system is modeling for her. Robin is exploring her ideas.”

The demo showed how AI relieves architects from repetitive tasks, allowing more focus on creativity and decision-making.

Matt Arsenault — Principal Product Manager, Forma Connected Clients Autodesk

Next, Matt Arsenault, Autodesk’s Revit champion and Principal Product Manager, Forma Connected Clients Autodesk , showcased how Revit now functions as a connected client within Forma.

Revit users can view and edit all connected Forma data ensuring a single source of truth.
Analyses like wind comfort, begun in Forma, are available directly in Revit.

The new Autodesk Assistant automated hours of documentation tasks, generating floor plans, applying view templates, and placing sheets in seconds.

“This could take hours of manual effort,” Matt said. “Now it’s a matter of seconds. That’s a game changer.”

Nick Zeeben — Group Product Manager , Autodesk

Nick Zeeben, Autodesk Group Product Manager, then demonstrated Autodesk’s new connected pre-construction experience.

Takeoffs and estimates updated instantly with live model data.
Material costs, including volatile commodities like concrete, were adjusted in real time.
Field teams can now use AI-powered mobile tools to capture site issues with just a photo.
Custom dashboards allow superintendents to track cost, quality, safety, and schedule at a glance.

“It’s all connected through Forma’s data management,” Nick explained. “Everyone has immediate access to the latest information.”

Adam Peter — Subject Matter Expert, Digital Twins

On operations, Adam Peter, Autodesk Subject Matter Expert in Digital Twins, introduced Autodesk Tandem.

Tandem Insights predicts equipment failures and automatically generates work orders.
Facility managers gain visibility into IoT data, warranties, and the spatial context of assets like HVAC units.

“We’re moving from reactive to proactive,” Adam said. “The predictive digital twin transforms how facilities are managed.”

Case Study: Denver International Airport

Brendan Dillon, Director of Digital Facilities and Infrastructure at Denver International Airport, shared his experience:

“We’ve got 300 active projects at any given time. Coordinating that used to be impossible. Now we can connect projects across the portfolio and solve problems before they happen.”

Owens offered three lessons for digital transformation:

Have a champion who advocates for innovation.
Institutionalize knowledge so expertise remains in-house.
Share openly with peers and industry partners.

Fusion: Manufacturing Reinvented

Shifting to product design and manufacturing, Andrew introduced Fusion, now enhanced with Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) capabilities. Fusion enables a continuous digital thread across design, engineering, manufacturing, and operations.

Heather Kerrick — Director, AI Software Development

Heather Kerrick, Autodesk Director, AI Software Development , demonstrated generative AI’s role in manufacturing design through an air fryer project:

Using Autodesk Assistant, she added team members with a simple prompt.
Generative AI produced CAD-ready models from scratch, eliminating the “blank sheet” problem.
AI-generated product variants and photorealistic visuals were seamlessly exported into a Microsoft PowerPoint pitch deck.

“From blank slate to editable CAD—that’s unique,” Heather said. “It saves hours of tedious work and accelerates decision-making.”

Daniel Graham — Director of Fusion Product Management

Daniel Graham, Autodesk Director of Fusion Product Management, revealed two engineering enhancements:

AI-based auto-fix for sketch gaps, a frequent pain point for designers.
A new constraint command simplifying assembly positioning, addressing the most requested feature from Fusion users.

“This is about making 3D design more intuitive,” Daniel explained.

Jeremy Stadtmueller — Director Product Management

Jeremy Stadtmueller, Autodesk Director Product Management, joined Daniel to demonstrate the link between Inventor and Fusion:

A late design change in Fusion instantly updated Inventor’s mold assembly.
With one click, the mold was validated, adjusted, and sent back to Fusion for toolpath generation.

“The data is linked, not just the files,” Jeremy emphasized. “That connectivity lets us truly work in parallel.”

Flow: Empowering Media and Entertainment

While the focus was on AEC and manufacturing, Andrew also previewed Flow, Autodesk’s industry cloud for media and entertainment.

Flow aims to provide film, television, and game studios with cloud-native, AI-powered workflows to streamline collaboration and content creation. Details will follow in later AU sessions, but the direction is clear: Autodesk is applying the same end-to-end, AI-driven philosophy across all three of its industries.

Unlocking Unlimited Capacity

In closing, Andrew returned to his central theme: abundance through technology.

Forma is transforming AEC with AI-native workflows from design to operations.
Fusion is reimagining manufacturing with PLM integration, AI-driven design, and connected engineering.
Flow is extending cloud collaboration into storytelling and media production.

“This is how we unlock unlimited capacity,” Andrew concluded. “So you can make more housing, more factories, more products, and more stories without leaving anyone behind.”

Final Thoughts

The AU 2025 General Session wasn’t just a showcase of technology, it was a statement of intent. Autodesk is positioning itself as the enabler of a new era where AI and cloud workflows allow industries to thrive despite global scarcity. Autodesk’s vision, no professional, no company, and no industry is left behind.

Author
Recent Posts

Hanen Bdioui

Sales Development Representative at ChampionXperience

Hanen Bdioui, founder of ChampionXperience, is a Sales Development Representative skilled in SimLab Soft, SOLIDWORKS, 3DEXPERIENCE, and 3DEXCITE. She helps companies and learners explore VR, AR, and PLM solutions to drive innovation.