The growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is speeding across all fields of human endeavour at rates never seen before. In fact, it’s not a matter of what AI can’t do, but the opposite. It seems almost anything is possible.
Construction is becoming a big part of the AI story. One thing AI can do for construction is rooted in a problem that has been at the heart of the construction industry for some time: productivity.
As reported by McKinsey, “Construction sector labour-productivity growth averaged 1.0 per cent a year over the past two decades, compared with 2.8 per cent for the total world economy and 3.6 per cent for manufacturing.”
Many productivity issues can be traced to labour shortages due to generational retirement. In order to survive, today’s builders must confront their fear of change and embrace new technologies that can address the shortfall of replacement employees.
A survey released by the Association of General Contractors of America finds 87 per cent of firms agree their employees need digital technology skills to be successful, as firms adopt new advanced methodologies. Yet only half of their hires have the skills required.
Successful adoption of AI in construction could help by significantly reducing employee workloads throughout an entire project and, in that way, reduce the number of workers required overall.
For example, another McKinsey study suggests that, depending on the speed of adoption undertaken by the industry, between 20 and 30 per cent of construction work at one stage or another could be automated by 2030. Those levels of automation could bring down future labour demands from builders to within the range of 10 to 14 per cent from 2022 levels.
Many of AI’s benefits can be seen from the very start of a construction project, be it a building or key infrastructure. The list of AI capabilities grows by the day, it seems.
AI algorithms and tools can cut through the bidding chaos early on, generating project cost estimates and timelines and assessing the environmental impact of various construction materials. Later, they can optimize resource usage and minimize carbon emissions throughout the project lifecycle.
In the form of digital twins, AI can, for example, augment the design process using CFD, or Computational Fluid Dynamics. CFD is an advanced airflow modelling method that can be used to predict airflow patterns, heat distribution and contaminant transportation in and around buildings. Using AI in infrastructure mapping services for inspections of bridges and tunnels reduces in-person involvement.
So dramatic has been the advances in AI that some architects fear for the future of their profession.
An English-language version of a Chinese image-to-image AI design tool, LookX, has just been launched.
Although in its early days, LookX intends to offer an all-in-one platform that will use AI to take parameters such as daylight requirements, space standards and local planning regulations, and generate master plan layouts right down to interiors and construction details.
Martha Tsigkari, head of applied research and development at Foster + Partners in London, told the Guardian some architects are calling for caution, not out of fear for their jobs, but because of what the tech could spawn and the potential for data being misused.
“We have to be careful. It can be dangerous if you don’t know what data was used to train the model, or if you haven’t classified it properly. Data is everything. If you put garbage in, you’ll get garbage out.”
Others are not worried and, in fact, are enthusiastic about the future potential of AI.
Tadd Tellepsen, CEO of a Texas construction company, told attendees at a Houston industry event he looks forward to being able to tell an AI system to generate a building design with all requested specifications and have the results almost instantly.
However, futurist and author Bernard Marr, writing for Forbes, cautions we can’t delegate all responsibilities to machines.
At the end of the day, “humans will still have to be ultimately accountable for safety.”
John Bleasby is a Coldwater, Ont.-based freelance writer. Send comments and Inside Innovation column ideas to editor@dailycommercialnews.com.
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