This is the most common question we get. Short version: if you need a number, count it yourself.

**Why it's hard.** Counting on a drawing requires (a) recognising every instance of the thing, (b) not double-counting where details repeat across sheets, and (c) knowing which sheets to count from in the first place. AI vision models are improving fast but they currently fall down on at least one of these on most jobs.

**What goes wrong in practice**

* **Counts that include duplicates.** A GPO shown on both an RCP and a unit plan gets counted twice.

* **Counts that miss elements behind callouts, hatches, or off the visible sheet.**

* **Measurements that read the wrong dimension string.** The AI picks up a *nominal* dimension instead of a *clear* one.

* **Confidence that doesn't match accuracy.** The AI can sound certain about a wrong number.

**What you can use the AI for instead**

* *Estimating order of magnitude.* "Roughly how many apartments are in this set?" is a fair question.

* *Sanity-checking your own count.* Ask the AI after you've counted, not before.

* *Finding the relevant sheets to count from.* It's reliable for navigation.

**Roadmap.** We're working on a dedicated quantity-extraction pipeline that separates counting from generative AI. When it ships, this article will be updated.