Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming an integral tool in various industries. But have you ever thought about how it can reform construction? Regardless of the type of business, owners are always looking for operational and efficiency improvement strategies. And with construction, the use cases are intriguing.
One might understandably assume that the methods of laying reinforcing bars or pouring concrete are limited. That’s where AI comes in and adds a high-tech touch to the traditional hands-on field.
What is AI?
Many people’s idea of what AI is comes from film and television, especially in recent years. AI, in its current form, is a computer that can perform complex tasks. It understands natural language, recognizes patterns, solves problems and makes decisions.
An artificial intelligence system can learn from data sets to make predictions or draw conclusions without human intervention.
One of the most common uses of AI can be found on your phone. Voice assistants like Siri and Google understand benign requests and deliver results (within a reasonable range).
An android who teams up with a construction worker on a construction site
What about the construction industry?
Theoretically, AI can be used in the pre-construction phases. The application of historical data analysis allows AI, trained on extensive data sets from the past, to scrutinize data to make informed decisions. For example, the data it can search is project type, downtime averages, work size, delivery methods, and more.
Imagine a giant virtual brain plunging into decades of data to predict the best strategies to complete projects, or to estimate project man-hours.
Artificial intelligence not only relates to intelligent decision-making, but also includes strategic planning. It can help construction companies optimize resource usage, manage timelines and achieve better efficiency overall.
Analyzing building codes
The world of building codes and permits can be a minefield.
AI makes parsing building codes a breeze. It can quickly identify relevant codessaving companies potential legal hassles and ensuring that every construction job is compliant.
Do you remember the headaches you had the last time you went through the building permit process? Well, AI can help streamline this, making it more efficient and less hassle.
Project lifecycle
Every construction project goes through several phases. Artificial intelligence can help in every aspect, thanks in large part to the capabilities of neural networks.
‘A neural network is a computer model inspired by the structure of the brain, used for machine learning tasks.’ – Explained by ChatGPT
AI can use neural networks to classify the progress of different sub-projects. It’s like having a virtual project manager keeping an eye on everything.
This means it can detect potential problems early. Instead of reacting to problems, you can prevent them. Now that’s what we call a game-changer!
Ensuring safety on site with AI
Perhaps the most important way AI can help construction is by improving safety.
Through photo recognition, AI can detect safety risks, such as employees not wearing protective equipment or dangerous working conditions. AI can be trained on how to perform tasks to show deficiencies in activities.
AI can look at the work area and past data to guess project risks. This allows you to avoid risky situations.
With lots of building data, AI can use simulations to suggest ways to make structures and designs better for things like energy use and air quality.
What now?
AI is growing fast. It’s hard to find an expert who can help you with your ideas, especially an affordable construction AI expert.
While AI already brings significant benefits, it is not without its challenges. Other issues include data privacy, technology costs and the need for significant cultural shifts within construction companies.
Despite these challenges, the potential of AI in construction is huge. As technology continues to advance, we can only imagine how much more it could reshape the industry.
We think the AI evolution opens the doors to enormous potential and opportunity.
