July 16
The Application of Artificial Intelligence in the Construction Industry.
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Artificial Intelligence is all the rage right now. Like any self-respecting celebrity, it goes by ashortened version of it’s name - “AI”. And, as is true with any important public figure, its fans feel a bit of apprehension mixed in with their emotional cocktail of excitement and admiration.
AI quickly went from being a concept central to science fiction novels to being a widely-usedbusiness tool. The accelerated development of the technology and the broad application of it has created an excitement around the phenomenon that rivals some of the greatest inventions of all time. Parallel to this excitement is the argument that AI will quickly eradicate the need for actual humans in the workforce. The fear that we will be replaced, leading to a severe lack of resources and widespread poverty, is more tangible the more “intelligent” AI gets.
The Construction Industry has been feeling the impact of AI for years. We here at WMG use AI in our day to day workflow, and are experiencing first-hand the benefits of the technology - and the glitches inherent in it, as well. As a part of one of the leading industries that still needs actual humans to get jobs done, the need for and application of AI in our industry is a fascinating exploration.
AI Increasing Efficiency
Freeing Up Human Resources
We at WMG currently do not have any positions that can be replaced by AI. But we do have key tasks that we have taken away from employees and given to “The Bot.”
Why? We realize the efficiency that can be had if we simply eliminate the busy work. Humans tend to get bogged down by the mundane. When we get stuck in tasks that feel repetitive or beneath our skill-level, we have the tendency to mentally check out. This effects the speed and efficiency of our work by creating work patterns that are slow and full of mistakes.
AI has enabled us to free up human resources for more interesting and valuable tasks. Rather than having an employee take notes during a meeting, letting AI take the notes enables the employee to become more engaged in the discussion and contribute their unique perspective to the project - a much more valuable resource than simple note-taking. This not only benefits us as the employer, but gives back to the employee by allowing them to develop their skills and challenge themselves to generate creative ideas that help accomplish a team goal.
Getting Things Done Better
Not to perpetuate a stereotype, but we here in the Construction Industry are fundamentally a group of engineers. We’re not exactly famous for our creative writing skills. One way that we have successfully used AI to help increase the quality of our work is by generating proposals with it and letting it do the “creative” part of the writing for us.
Another application of AI that helps solve several of our management needs is our ability to let AI generate ideal client schedules. Where we previously devoted many hours of human resourcesto creating schedules and double checking them for errors, plugging in the details and letting AI take the first pass saves us so much valuable time. It can help increase the quality of the work by making sure there are no errors from the beginning. This allows our employees to go in and augment the work done by the AI, creating a better product for our clients than before and saving us valuable resources.
“Houston we have a problem...”
While we here at WMG find AI tremendously helpful in our daily work, there are some things that it isn’t very good at yet…
It’s only as good as what you feed it. It’s called “Artificial” Intelligence, not “Omnipotent” Intelligence. AI is still learning, and many times it is still only as good as what you feed it.
It’s still detectible. Part of the learning curve of AI is that its outputs are still identifiable as artificial by many online algorithms. Many of these algorithms are designed to push AI generated content lower on the priority list in comparison with human-generated content. This means that AI is still not a reliable tool to use when writing online content for your business.
Applications are limited. We are still an industry dominated by the need for trades people who work with their hands. While many AI applications for these trades are in development, there are many areas in the construction industry where AI is simply not applicable yet.
Who owns it? Who owns the content that AI generates? There are many theories surroundingthis, which come in to play when considering Copyrights, Intellectual Property, and Citation. Inthe event that one day AI generates the same content for you as it did for someone else, who isto blame? We have a long way to go to establish the rules, regulations and legislaturesurrounding AI content ownership.
AI holds the promise of allowing people to pursue higher, better-paying positions than they normally would if they were stuck doing the busy work that AI eliminates. A note-worthy parallelto draw is that of the similarities between AI and the invention of the automobile. While the invention of the car eliminated the need for certain trades, such as blacksmithing for shoeing horses, it created the need for many trades that didn’t exist before in their current form, such as oil refining, auto repair and parts production. As a small business, it is essential to stay nimble
and be ahead of the curve, using new resources rather than resisting them. This is one of the many ways we stay viable and competitive, and AI is a perfect example of a tool that can give us an advantage when used properly. While the applications of AI are still growing and improving,we are open to the advancement of this exciting new technology, and are actively searching fornew ways to utilize it in the years to come.
Where does AI fit in your industry, and how do you use it?
Resources: Forbes
The Application of Artificial Intelligence in the Construction Industry.
Artificial Intelligence is all the rage right now. Like any self-respecting celebrity, it goes by ashortened version of it’s name - “AI”. And, as is true with any important public figure, its fans feel a bit of apprehension mixed in with their emotional cocktail of excitement and admiration.
AI quickly went from being a concept central to science fiction novels to being a widely-usedbusiness tool. The accelerated development of the technology and the broad application of it has created an excitement around the phenomenon that rivals some of the greatest inventions of all time. Parallel to this excitement is the argument that AI will quickly eradicate the need for actual humans in the workforce. The fear that we will be replaced, leading to a severe lack of resources and widespread poverty, is more tangible the more “intelligent” AI gets.
The Construction Industry has been feeling the impact of AI for years. We here at WMG use AI in our day to day workflow, and are experiencing first-hand the benefits of the technology - and the glitches inherent in it, as well. As a part of one of the leading industries that still needs actual humans to get jobs done, the need for and application of AI in our industry is a fascinating exploration.
AI Increasing Efficiency
Freeing Up Human Resources
We at WMG currently do not have any positions that can be replaced by AI. But we do have key tasks that we have taken away from employees and given to “The Bot.”
Why? We realize the efficiency that can be had if we simply eliminate the busy work. Humans tend to get bogged down by the mundane. When we get stuck in tasks that feel repetitive or beneath our skill-level, we have the tendency to mentally check out. This effects the speed and efficiency of our work by creating work patterns that are slow and full of mistakes.
AI has enabled us to free up human resources for more interesting and valuable tasks. Rather than having an employee take notes during a meeting, letting AI take the notes enables the employee to become more engaged in the discussion and contribute their unique perspective to the project - a much more valuable resource than simple note-taking. This not only benefits us as the employer, but gives back to the employee by allowing them to develop their skills and challenge themselves to generate creative ideas that help accomplish a team goal.
Getting Things Done Better
Not to perpetuate a stereotype, but we here in the Construction Industry are fundamentally a group of engineers. We’re not exactly famous for our creative writing skills. One way that we have successfully used AI to help increase the quality of our work is by generating proposals with it and letting it do the “creative” part of the writing for us.
Another application of AI that helps solve several of our management needs is our ability to let AI generate ideal client schedules. Where we previously devoted many hours of human resourcesto creating schedules and double checking them for errors, plugging in the details and letting AI take the first pass saves us so much valuable time. It can help increase the quality of the work by making sure there are no errors from the beginning. This allows our employees to go in and augment the work done by the AI, creating a better product for our clients than before and saving us valuable resources.
“Houston we have a problem...”
While we here at WMG find AI tremendously helpful in our daily work, there are some things that it isn’t very good at yet…
It’s only as good as what you feed it. It’s called “Artificial” Intelligence, not “Omnipotent” Intelligence. AI is still learning, and many times it is still only as good as what you feed it.
It’s still detectible. Part of the learning curve of AI is that its outputs are still identifiable as artificial by many online algorithms. Many of these algorithms are designed to push AI generated content lower on the priority list in comparison with human-generated content. This means that AI is still not a reliable tool to use when writing online content for your business.
Applications are limited. We are still an industry dominated by the need for trades people who work with their hands. While many AI applications for these trades are in development, there are many areas in the construction industry where AI is simply not applicable yet.
Who owns it? Who owns the content that AI generates? There are many theories surroundingthis, which come in to play when considering Copyrights, Intellectual Property, and Citation. Inthe event that one day AI generates the same content for you as it did for someone else, who isto blame? We have a long way to go to establish the rules, regulations and legislaturesurrounding AI content ownership.
AI holds the promise of allowing people to pursue higher, better-paying positions than they normally would if they were stuck doing the busy work that AI eliminates. A note-worthy parallelto draw is that of the similarities between AI and the invention of the automobile. While the invention of the car eliminated the need for certain trades, such as blacksmithing for shoeing horses, it created the need for many trades that didn’t exist before in their current form, such as oil refining, auto repair and parts production. As a small business, it is essential to stay nimble
and be ahead of the curve, using new resources rather than resisting them. This is one of the many ways we stay viable and competitive, and AI is a perfect example of a tool that can give us an advantage when used properly. While the applications of AI are still growing and improving,we are open to the advancement of this exciting new technology, and are actively searching fornew ways to utilize it in the years to come.
Where does AI fit in your industry, and how do you use it?
Resources: Forbes
Office: 310.598.7107
WMG is a certified DBE/SBE Construction Management Firm (ID# 41529) through the Los Angeles County Metro Transportation Authority (MTA/METRO), a participating member of the California Unified Certification Program (CUCP).
Office: 310.598.7107
WMG is a certified DBE/SBE Construction Management Firm (ID# 41529) through the Los Angeles County Metro Transportation Authority (MTA/METRO), a participating member of the California Unified Certification Program (CUCP).
WMG is a certified DBE/SBE Construction Management Firm (ID# 41529) through the Los Angeles County Metro Transportation Authority (MTA/METRO), a participating member of the California Unified Certification Program (CUCP).