AI is closer than you think. We already encounter AI in our daily life – via our iPhones, Google Home, Alexa… AI recommends the films we watch on Netflix and the songs we listen to on Spotify and it shows us those annoying targeted ads on Facebook. So what is ‘Artificial Intelligence’ or AI? One frequently used definition is ‘cognitive computing’; that is to say teaching computers how to perform tasks traditionally carried out by humans – to learn, reason, communicate and make decisions.
AI appears now to be the latest buzzword in digital developments, with industry the world over consider how it can be used to reduce time, reduce costs and increase efficiency and quality. McKinsey have reported that companies at the digital frontier are betting vast amounts of money on AI; estimated between $20 billion and $30 billion in 2016 alone. They go on to report that AI leaders expect their margins to increase by up to five percentage points more than the industry average. One European power distribution company was said to be able to reduce its cash costs by 30 percent over five years by changing its maintenance patterns using AI for the remote analysis of 20 variables to determine the overall health of power transformers.
Looking specifically at the construction industry, there are numerous potential uses for AI. This includes driverless vehicles; carrying out construction tasks such as demolition and bricklaying; processing of large amounts of documents and data; evaluation of design options and developing best practice by comparing current conditions with past incidents. Machines with sensors could be used to detect wear and tear, potential malfunctions, the need for maintenance and potential hazardous situations.
All of this arguably frees up the workforce to carry out more skilled tasks, although there is the accompanying risk of some jobs becoming redundant. A report from construction firm Mace forecasts that 600,000 trades jobs will disappear by 2040 as the industry heads to the so‑called fourth technological revolution, which includes AI and the Internet of Things.
However, as with any innovation or new technology, AI comes with new risks and legal issues. For example, which party is accountable for the performance of the AI and/or errors by the AI? Who bears the risk if an AI system is hacked? The use of AI does not remove the risk of human error; where AI is used to analyse design options or other data, the accuracy of this analysis may, at least in part, be heavily dependent on the accuracy of the criteria input by the humans.
One aspect of AI that has come under some scrutiny and debate is the difficulty in ascertaining the reasoning or basis of a decision by an AI (commonly referred to as a ‘black box decision’). The GDPR and other data protection legislation will require parties to ensure AI does not breach data privacy restrictions. The GDPR also requires explanations to be available for decisions based on scores or algorithms in certain circumstances, which in turn has been argued to result in the need for ‘explainable’ AI.
Despite the risks, AI has a real potential to be a great tool to improve our industry in many aspects. Autodesk’s first publicly available machine learning-powered tool focused on construction, BIM360 IQ, uses machine learning to predict issues such as subcontractor risk. Given the reliance of main contractors on subcontractors for the success of a project, such a tool would facilitate better risk management and mitigation steps to be taken where necessary, such as additional supervision or reporting.
Notwithstanding some fears to the contrary, AI is unlikely to wholly replace us humans anytime soon. Design and construction, by their nature, require some degree of emotional intelligence and analysis, which is unlikely to be automated in the near future.
Those interested in this area may enjoy this informative AI infographic: https://www.ice.org.uk/ICEDevelopmentWebPortal/media/ice-thinks/ai-infographic.png
About the Author: May is an experienced construction solicitor, and BIM, legal and contractual expert and is a regular speaker and author of articles on legal issues of BIM, digitisation and innovation in construction. May authored the award winning Society of Construction Law paper, ‘Building Information Modelling: The Legal Frontier – Overcoming Legal and Contractual Obstacles’.
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