The construction industry has been buzzing with buzzwords of the 2000st century that we assumed would revolutionize the industry: data models, IFC, AR, VR, drones, Big Data, 3D printing and, as the latest phenomenon, artificial intelligence. However, according to many studies, new technologies have been adopted very poorly in everyday work in the real estate and construction industry.
Artificial intelligence is a digital phenomenon that connects almost every industry, and many companies are currently thinking about how to implement it in their own organizations. However, from the point of view of the construction industry, artificial intelligence is not a silver bullet that is "just implemented" (excl. commercial and non-commercial generic language model-based artificial intelligence applications such as ChatGPT). Its implementation requires a truly massive amount of machine-readable, structured and harmonized information.
Too often information is in different silos such as in people's heads, individual files or different software. Unifying data is really challenging, which prevents us from training artificial intelligence applications to comprehensively analyze the company's data and thus help us in developing the company's business.
Three building blocks that need to be fixed before implementing artificial intelligence
- Standardization of one's own processes, i.e. making, when one can think about the electrification of processes, i.e. whether it is possible to replace a part of the process with, for example, a technological solution or a ready-made platform.
- Harmonization of information and standardization of information structures, allowing the company to start accumulating "teaching material" for artificial intelligence.
- Purposeful training and building trust, so that in the future the personnel will be able to use artificial intelligence applications and trust the information created by artificial intelligence.
When these three blocks are in place, the organization gains a clear competitive advantage when making better and higher quality decisions. At the same time, conditions are created for productivity and continuous improvement.
The builder's first steps into artificial intelligence
As with everything new, it's worth starting with the basics. Free has been implemented to help builders Artificial intelligence in the built environment - online course. If studying alone doesn't inspire you, KIRAHub organizes separate group study sessions, where the teaching material is reviewed in three parts.
KIRAHub also organizes together of FAIR (Finnish AI Region) with separate ones for SMEs artificial intelligence acceleration periods, where companies can, with the help of AI experts, think about the possibilities of using artificial intelligence in their own business. FAIR also organizes free trainings and events about artificial intelligence.
I see that the construction industry can no longer afford or have the opportunity not to invest in development. We need to harness all possible help in order to be able to meet the challenges of the future, which are e.g. labor shortage, urbanization, achieving carbon neutrality goals and stopping nature loss and the resulting more complicated reporting. When artificial intelligence is harnessed with the right information, it becomes an invaluable aid to the construction industry.
Useful links:
- WDBE 2024 (World of Digital built environment) forum October 3-4.10.2024, XNUMX, registration
- FAIR (Finnish AI region) general trainings and events
- KIRAHub: Artificial intelligence in the built environment course
- KIRAHub: Group learning sessions
- KIRAHub: Artificial Intelligence Accelerator
- Reinventing Construction: A Route to higher productivity (McKinsey, 2017)
Antti Aaltonen
Director, Construction Development
antti.aaltonen@rt.fi + 358 40 514 3626Confederation of Finnish Construction Industries (CFCI)
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