AI Use Case Series: AI in Construction [AI Today Podcast] AI transcript and summary - episode of podcast AI Today Podcast: Artificial Intelligence Insights, Experts, and Opinion
Go to PodExtra AI's episode page (AI Use Case Series: AI in Construction [AI Today Podcast]) to play and view complete AI-processed content: summary, mindmap, topics, takeaways, transcript, keywords and highlights.
Go to PodExtra AI's podcast page (AI Today Podcast: Artificial Intelligence Insights, Experts, and Opinion) to view the AI-processed content of all episodes of this podcast.
View full AI transcripts and summaries of all podcast episodes on the blog: AI Today Podcast: Artificial Intelligence Insights, Experts, and Opinion
Episode: AI Use Case Series: AI in Construction [AI Today Podcast]
Author: AI & Data Today
Duration: 00:06:44
Episode Shownotes
The construction industry is increasingly using AI in a range of ways. In this episode of AI Today hosts Kathleen Walch and Ron Schmelzer discuss how AI is being applied in a number of ways. Design and Planning for construction AI and generative AI tools are helping to optimize building
designs. We discuss how AI tools analyze vast amounts of data to suggest the most efficient and cost-effective design solutions, reducing material waste and construction time. Continue reading AI Use Case Series: AI in Construction [AI Today Podcast] at Cognilytica.
Full Transcript
00:00:00 Speaker_01
The AI Today podcast, powered by PMI, cuts through the hype and noise to identify what is really happening now in the world of artificial intelligence.
00:00:09 Speaker_01
Learn about emerging AI trends, best practices, and use cases on making AI work for you today with PMI hosts and expert guests.
00:00:21 Speaker_02
Hello and welcome to the AI Today podcast. I'm your host, Kathleen Molch.
00:00:25 Speaker_00
And I'm your host, Ron Schmelzer. And we have been on a series of episodes over the last many episodes here at AI Today, where we've been focusing on how AI is being applied into various different industries.
00:00:39 Speaker_00
And if you haven't listened to our other podcasts, even if they're on industries that you may not be involved in or may not be interested in, I think you should listen to them mainly because you will learn how AI is being put to use today in real ways, not theoretical ways, by organizations realizing real value from AI.
00:00:57 Speaker_00
And I think that helps answer the question that people are still asking about what is AI good for? Is AI good at all? And of course, does AI matter? Which we constantly are answering. that question here on this podcast.
00:01:09 Speaker_00
So we're going to continue in this series here where we're really looking at the ways in which AI is being applied into different industries, in part because maybe you are involved in an industry or maybe you're just curious, but also because there are things that are happening in each one of these industries that may be specific to that industry, but is definitely applicable to folks who are working in similar things.
00:01:30 Speaker_00
So we're going to keep going on that AI use case series here with this podcast.
00:01:35 Speaker_02
Exactly. And so for today's podcast, we're going to be talking about how AI is being applied in construction.
00:01:42 Speaker_02
And if you've been listening to the AI Today podcast for a while, you know that we've had some interviews with folks in the construction industry. So we're excited to dig more into this topic today.
00:01:51 Speaker_02
So one way that we've seen AI being applied is in the design and planning, especially around optimization.
00:01:59 Speaker_02
So we've seen AI tools that are being used like building information modeling and also generative design software that uses machine learning to optimize with building designs. And so these tools can analyze vast amounts of data, right?
00:02:13 Speaker_02
We talk about how computers are really good at looking at large amounts of data very quickly. And then they're able to maybe use past data to suggest most efficient or cost effective design solutions.
00:02:26 Speaker_02
And so this can help with reducing material waste and also construction time in general. And we've also seen it being used with cost estimation. So AI powered tools are helping to analyze historical data.
00:02:42 Speaker_02
So we think about predictive analytics as one of the seven patterns of AI that's being used.
00:02:47 Speaker_02
And so you're able to look at past historical data and maybe different project specifications that you have, and then use AI to help provide accurate cost estimates. So this helps with both budgeting and also with reducing the risk of cost overruns.
00:03:04 Speaker_02
And so we think about, you know, how AI is being used as that augmented intelligence tool where it's not using, it's not replacing humans, but just helping them do their jobs better in the construction industry.
00:03:15 Speaker_00
Yeah, and if you think about what construction is, it's another one of those industries that goes back millennia, right? We were talking about that in another podcast. We were thinking about agriculture.
00:03:24 Speaker_00
Just like we have to have food to eat, we have to have a place to live. We have to have a place to do all sorts of things. Do our retail, do our banking, do our entertainment. or maybe just have green areas where we can enjoy the natural environment.
00:03:40 Speaker_00
All of those things are fit within construction because someone has to build those things and someone has to account for all the various needs.
00:03:48 Speaker_00
especially that we've learned, because we're not really construction professionals, but we are involved in projects. And construction activities are projects. You have to plan in advance.
00:03:57 Speaker_00
And it's not like software projects where you can change things on the fly. If you're building a skyscraper and it has to have a certain amount of windows, you can't just decide to change that later on.
00:04:06 Speaker_00
And by the way, that skyscraper has a huge impact. You have to plan the electric. You have to plan the HVAC. You have to plan the plumbing and the parking. And you have to also deal with the environmental aspects.
00:04:16 Speaker_00
You have to deal with zoning and regulations. So you have to kind of go maybe years in advance before you even start digging the first trench full. You have to be involved in planning. You have to be involved in design.
00:04:28 Speaker_00
You have to factor so many things into account. So really, construction projects are really, really good, if you will, case studies for project management. because you have to be on top of things.
00:04:39 Speaker_00
And the more you're on top of things, the more your construction project will be a success, the less you'll have both not only the cost overruns, but you'll have all these other issues that may happen if you haven't planned properly.
00:04:49 Speaker_00
You can't just move a building. You can't just change the parking lot spots. Things have to be planned in advance. So We are definitely seeing AI in general used for project management.
00:05:00 Speaker_00
Of course, this podcast in general, as you know, is really powered by PMI, Project Management Institute. But that's not why we're talking about construction specifically here. We're talking about all the industries.
00:05:11 Speaker_00
But construction and project management have a huge overlap. And it's no surprise that AI is impacting project management. So therefore, AI is really impacting construction project management very specifically.
00:05:24 Speaker_00
things like optimizing the scheduling, optimizing resource allocation, helping with risk management, predicting things like potential delays, cost overruns, resource bottlenecks, and just in general, enhancing and enabling decision-making in a much better way.
00:05:40 Speaker_00
And of course, when you're dealing with construction, you're not just moving things around. You have to acquire resources from other parties. So you have to deal with supply chain management and logistics.
00:05:48 Speaker_00
You have to make sure you have the materials when you need them, at the cost that you're expecting, in the quality that you're expecting. So you need to be able to predict which materials you need. You need to be able to optimize.
00:06:00 Speaker_00
You don't have tons of stuff on stock, maybe sitting outside. You don't want to have electronic components. you know, too early because they may be rained on. You know, there's like lots of things where you have to protect your, your material stock.
00:06:11 Speaker_00
You want things weathering before they're supposed to. So, you know, optimizing inventory and supply chain management, you might've thought that was a logistics thing or a retail thing. It's also a construction thing, right?
00:06:22 Speaker_00
You want to reduce the delays as well. And you want to have tools that help you analyze in general supply chain data and suggest perhaps the best supply chain strategies and procurement strategies that you can use.
00:06:35 Speaker_00
AI is really good at that, predictive analytics. And of course, if you have equipment that you need to use to make your various construction, you're going to have downtime.
00:06:46 Speaker_00
The more downtime you have, the more your project will run over schedule and over budget.
00:06:50 Speaker_00
So you need to be able to predict with predictive maintenance tools, things like equipment failures, and you'll be able to hopefully schedule maintenance before the problems occur and analyze data from your various sensors that you may have to identify patterns that indicate when that equipment is most likely to fail, reducing the downtime and hopefully having as little as possible.
00:07:09 Speaker_00
So AI can really help optimize all aspects of the project management and operation.
00:07:16 Speaker_02
Exactly. And so, you know, the reason that we love our Use Case Series is that even if you're not in the construction industry, you can say, how can I apply some of these to the industry that I'm in?
00:07:27 Speaker_02
Or how can I bring this to my organization so that I can help share how other industries are using this to get buy-in and adoption?
00:07:34 Speaker_02
And so that's why our Use Case Series is so popular, because you're able to look at it from not just the industry that you're in, but also how other industries are using it.
00:07:42 Speaker_02
So another way that we've been seeing AI used in construction is for monitoring of all different sorts. Obviously, construction site monitoring is incredibly important.
00:07:52 Speaker_02
We talk about how you're going to need to monitor the equipment that's on site, right? And you don't want five fingers or whatever, sometimes they're a little bit larger than what five fingers can do, taking it off site.
00:08:05 Speaker_02
So we've seen AI-powered drones and cameras that are used for real-time monitoring of construction sites. And so it's able to not only see what's on site, but also to see how projects are progressing.
00:08:18 Speaker_02
And you can use this to compare daily progress on what's going on against project plans, maybe identifying discrepancies or potential issues early.
00:08:29 Speaker_02
brought up, if you're building a skyscraper and it's having a certain number of windows, well guess what? If you haven't accounted for them, that could be an issue for a number of different reasons.
00:08:39 Speaker_02
You need light coming into the buildings, you have the supplies for those, maybe structurally you're going to have issues as well, so you really do need to make sure that you're building to your spec.
00:08:49 Speaker_02
And then also when it comes to safety and safety management, that's incredibly important on construction sites. So we've seen AI being used to enhance safety and identify potential hazards on construction sites.
00:09:01 Speaker_02
So computer vision is being used where it's able to analyze images and videos, flagging potentially unsafe behaviors or unsafe environment, maybe equipment misuse and other issues and risks that occur in real time.
00:09:15 Speaker_02
to flag it and then address these issues so that they can be resolved and mitigated so that nobody gets injured.
00:09:23 Speaker_00
Yeah. Now, of course, when people think of AI in construction, they see those fancy videos of the flipping robots and the automatic and autonomous systems that are driving around and flying around. And they say, surely we can build things this way.
00:09:37 Speaker_00
And actually, people are developing these various different robotic systems and autonomous systems that can do things like, well, bricklaying. We've seen that.
00:09:44 Speaker_00
There's actually AI-driven systems that can lay bricks, that can squirt concrete on their own, that can maybe even put drywall up. We've seen the videos of all those sorts of things. And you know, that helps.
00:09:55 Speaker_00
I mean, to the extent that it helps with optimizing labor. Because the reason why we might want robotics and autonomous systems in construction is really for two reasons. It's all what's called the 4Ds of robotics, or the 3Ks in Japanese.
00:10:11 Speaker_00
It's when a process may be really dangerous,
00:10:14 Speaker_00
And it may be more helpful to have a robotic system, perhaps the tie end of the skyscraper doing things that it's really dangerous for people or some maybe enclosed environment that it's really dangerous to have people in.
00:10:25 Speaker_00
We could have autonomous and robotic systems in there doing that, but also could be expensive. You know, it might just be that human may take a lot of human labor to do something.
00:10:34 Speaker_00
The human labor is very expensive, and of course people also can get injured, and they can get sick, and the availability of human resources may not be high.
00:10:41 Speaker_00
This is another reason why people may want autonomous systems, and they're doing these sorts of things, and it may be expensive to have people do. Now, the other Ds are demeaning tasks, so perhaps they're dirty tasks.
00:10:53 Speaker_00
People don't want to do perhaps some sort of cleaning operation, something like that. We've seen, of course, robotic window washers, but of course, that is once things have been built. But hey, we have lots of systems like that.
00:11:03 Speaker_00
We could put robotics in there, autonomous systems in there, and all that sort of stuff.
00:11:07 Speaker_00
So these are the areas, you know, you think about those four Ds, that's when you use robotics in situations that are helpful, not just to have some crazy machine out there doing backflips that's not particularly And of course has low ROI.
00:11:21 Speaker_00
So we want things that are actually providing value. So these things can really help speed up construction processes, perhaps improve precision, improve safety, that sort of stuff.
00:11:30 Speaker_00
But this is sort of like in general, there's and there's many other things happening with AI. in construction.
00:11:34 Speaker_00
This is sort of a good overview, a good survey of all the many ways, you know, from both from the design and planning stage, the project management operation stage, to the monitoring stage, and of course, just providing augmented assistance with construction itself.
00:11:47 Speaker_00
There's many ways that we see AI being implemented in construction and perhaps relates even to your industry if you're not in the construction field.
00:11:55 Speaker_02
Exactly. So definitely reach out to us. We'd love to hear from our listeners. Engage with us on social media and let us know if you're in the construction industry, how you're using AI or how you're thinking about using and adopting AI.
00:12:07 Speaker_02
And if you're not in the construction industry, let us know how you're using it and maybe what industry you are in.
00:12:12 Speaker_02
Because as we continue with our AI Use Case Series, we'd love to hear from our listeners, maybe additional areas and topics and industries that we should cover, and also how you're actually using AI in the real world.
00:12:24 Speaker_02
So subscribe to AI Today so you can get notified of all of our upcoming episodes. Like I said, we have a lot more in our AI Use Case series, and we also have some wonderful interviews lined up as well.
00:12:33 Speaker_02
So definitely stay tuned so you can hear all of the good insights that we have. Like this episode and want to hear more? With hundreds of episodes and over 3 million downloads, check out more AI Today podcasts at aitoday.live.
00:12:47 Speaker_02
Make sure to subscribe to AI Today if you haven't already on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google, Amazon, or your favorite podcast platform. Want to dive deeper and get resources to drive your AI efforts further?
00:13:00 Speaker_02
We've put together a carefully curated collection of resources and tools. handcrafted for you, our listeners, to expand your knowledge, dive deeper into the world of AI, and provide you with the essential resources you need.
00:13:13 Speaker_02
Check it out at aitoday.live slash list. Music by Matsu Gravas. As always, thanks for listening to AI Today, and we'll catch you at the next podcast.