AI in Construction Management

Summary

Construction Leaders Podcast: AI in Construction Management – Detailed Summary

Released on August 1, 2024 | Host: Carly Trout, Construction Management Association of America

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Introduction

In Episode Eight of the Construction Leaders Podcast, host Carly Trout delves into a highly pertinent topic: Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Construction Management. As AI technologies rapidly evolve and integrate into various industries, this episode explores their implications, benefits, and challenges within the construction sector. Joining Carly are three esteemed members of CMAA's Technology Subcommittee:

• Brian Tracy – Director of Construction Management at Asonio
• Marty Turner – Project Director at Turner and Townsend
• Vincent Testa – Strategic Growth at Procon Consulting

Their collective expertise provides a comprehensive look into how AI is reshaping construction management.

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Understanding AI in the Construction Industry

Brian Tracy initiates the discussion by clarifying what AI means within the context of construction. He emphasizes that AI is a broad term encompassing various technologies, including machine learning, generative algorithms, and large language models. Brian explains:

“AI is a catch-all term for a type of technology… self-driving cars or computers that can play chess… general AI programs like ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini… specifically for our industry like scheduling, estimating design, photo and video management” ([04:56] Brian Tracy).

Vincent Testa builds on this by highlighting the existing presence of AI in construction:

“Our industry really is the machine learning, the autonomous vehicles, the generative learning algorithms. It’s already deployed… it’s already there” ([05:30] Vincent Testa).

Marty Turner offers a practical perspective, viewing AI as a digital assistant that enhances productivity:

“It’s my 3 o’clock whiteboard… a great top line starting point from anything” ([05:30] Marty Turner).

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Benefits of AI in Construction Management

The guests discuss several ways AI can streamline construction management processes:

1. Automation of Mundane Tasks:

   • Vincent Testa points out that AI can handle administrative duties such as meeting minutes, RFIs (Requests for Information), and photo cataloging, thereby alleviating the labor shortage by allowing skilled workers to focus on more complex tasks ([10:04] Vincent Testa).

2. Enhanced Decision-Making:

   • Brian Tracy emphasizes that AI can collect and analyze data more efficiently, facilitating faster and more informed decisions:

     “If technology can help us collect data, analyze data, get to an agreed upon truth faster… we will be making faster and better decisions” ([10:58] Brian Tracy).

3. Improved Project Planning and Risk Management:

   • AI tools can generate schedules, identify high-risk elements, and optimize resource use, contributing to better project outcomes ([10:04] Vincent Testa).

4. Increased Efficiency and Integration:

   • Brian Tracy anticipates AI becoming seamlessly integrated into existing construction management tools, enhancing functionality without adding complexity:

     “Everything we do might be more efficient, but we might not have to actually opt into that. It’s just making the things we already use better” ([25:07] Brian Tracy).

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Addressing Concerns and Challenges

Despite the promising benefits, the panel addresses several concerns regarding AI implementation:

1. Job Replacement Fears:

   • Marty Turner reassures that AI is not poised to replace jobs but rather to reform them, drawing parallels to the Industrial Revolution:

     “I don’t see it as a threat to what we do… like a summer intern… it’s a good starting point, but it’s not in final form” ([07:19] Marty Turner).

2. Accuracy and Reliability:

   • The panel highlights the importance of human oversight to ensure AI-generated outputs are accurate and reliable. Marty Turner cautions against over-reliance on AI for critical tasks:

     “You wouldn’t want to turn over structural reviews to AI unfettered… it still takes the human touch” ([18:46] Marty Turner).

3. Regulatory and Ethical Considerations:

   • Brian Tracy discusses the ethical responsibilities of construction managers when utilizing AI, emphasizing honesty and transparency:

     “Using it as a digital assistant… it doesn’t replace your skills… making sure the work we sign off on is truly our own” ([13:51] Brian Tracy).

4. Quality of Data:

   • Both Marty Turner and Vincent Testa stress the critical role of data quality in AI effectiveness, warning against the pitfalls of poor data leading to erroneous conclusions ([21:09] Marty Turner).

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Regulatory and Ethical Considerations

The discussion delves deeper into the regulatory frameworks guiding AI use in construction:

• Brian Tracy references the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) report on AI, highlighting the need for frameworks to ensure AI is used ethically and responsibly:

  “The NIST report… framework and agreed upon set of parameters… responsible and ethical” ([13:51] Brian Tracy).

• Marty Turner notes that large tech companies like Microsoft and Google are integrating AI into their tools, pushing the industry to adopt ethical guidelines and best practices:

  “Companies are making these decisions for themselves… the more that weighed into the pool it starts to form the basis of what is sound business practice and industry standard” ([16:45] Marty Turner).

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Future of AI in Construction

Looking ahead, the panel shares their visions for AI's evolution in construction management over the next five years:

1. Increased Integration and Sophistication:

   • Vincent Testa anticipates more AI-driven predictive analytics, advanced robotics, and AI-enhanced design tools becoming integral to construction projects:

     “AI will become more integrated into all aspects of construction management… ensuring efficiency and sustainability” ([23:31] Vincent Testa).

2. Enhanced Sustainability:

   • AI is expected to play a significant role in optimizing resource use and reducing waste, contributing to more sustainable construction practices ([23:31] Vincent Testa).

3. Refined Project Controls:

   • Marty Turner envisions AI enabling fully integrated project controls, combining cost, schedule, and risk management to support superior decision-making:

     “It’ll become easier to use, the filters will become more effective… forming a decision before you react” ([24:16] Marty Turner).

4. Seamless Tool Integration:

   • Brian Tracy projects that AI features will be embedded within existing construction management tools, enhancing their capabilities without necessitating the adoption of entirely new platforms:

     “Everything we do might be more efficient… making the things we already use better” ([25:07] Brian Tracy).

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Resources and Further Information

For listeners seeking more information on AI and construction management technology, Brian Tracy recommends several resources:

• CMAA Technology Subcommittee: Offers webinars, newsletters, and conference sessions dedicated to technological advancements in construction.
• Industry Organizations: Such as Built Worlds, ENR (Engineering News-Record), and Future Tech provide valuable insights and updates.
• Technology-Specific VC Firms: Emerging firms focused on construction technology innovations.

“The CMAA Technology subcommittee… Built Worlds, ENR, Future Tech… technology-specific VC firms… where the money’s going” ([26:10] Brian Tracy).

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Conclusion

The Construction Leaders Podcast episode on AI in Construction Management provides a thorough exploration of how artificial intelligence is transforming the construction industry. Through insightful discussions, Carly Trout and her guests underscore the potential of AI to enhance efficiency, improve decision-making, and address labor shortages, while also acknowledging the importance of ethical considerations and the necessity of human oversight. As AI continues to integrate into construction management, staying informed and adopting best practices will be crucial for industry leaders striving to harness its full potential.

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Notable Quotes:

• Brian Tracy [04:56]: “AI is a catch-all term for a type of technology… specific for our industry like scheduling, estimating design…”
• Marty Turner [05:30]: “It’s my 3 o’clock whiteboard… a great top line starting point from anything.”
• Vincent Testa [10:04]: “AI can handle administrative duties… helping us with the labor shortage.”
• Marty Turner [07:19]: “I don’t see it as a threat to what we do… it’s a good starting point, but it’s not in final form.”
• Brian Tracy [13:51]: “Using it as a digital assistant… making sure the work we sign off on is truly our own.”
• Vincent Testa [23:31]: “AI will become more integrated into all aspects of construction management…”

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Learn More:

• Visit cmaanet.org/volunteerwithcmaa to join committees like the Technology Subcommittee.
• Follow CMAA on social media and subscribe to the Construction Leaders Podcast for upcoming episodes and updates.

Transcript

[Carly Trout]

Welcome to episode eight of the Construction Leaders Podcast. Today we'll be talking about something on everyone's mind lately, and that's artificial intelligence. From the advent of Alexa and other smart home devices to chatbots providing customer service, AI has been around for a while now. But the development of more sophisticated AI like self driving cars and the rapid increase of AI's use in the workplace has us all wondering and wanting to take a closer look at the benefits and risks. So what does it all mean for the construction industry? Joining us on the podcast today to give us some insights are members of CMAA's Technology Subcommittee. You may remember committee members have joined us on previous episodes during seasons one and two on topics like wearable technology and 360 reality capture. So it only seemed right to invite them back for season three. Joining Nick and I are Brian Tracy, Director of Construction Management at Asonio, Marty Turner, Project Director at Turner and Townsend, and Vincent Testa, Strategic Growth at procon Consulting. Welcome to the podcast, everyone.

[Brian Tracy]

Thank you, Carly.

[Marty Turner]

Thanks, Carly.

[Carly Trout]

Can you each briefly introduce yourselves to our listeners, let us know what your current role is and maybe how you became interested in the topic of technology within construction. Brian, how about we start with you?

[Brian Tracy]

Thanks, Carly. I think my interest in technology dates all the way back to not learning the lesson of people finding out that you can connect printers and then you just becoming the IT guy. Early in my career with Kiewit, I got involved in new technology adoption initiatives and with their reach and resources, you see how that's done at a broad scale, both for the good and the bad. And then at my other career stops, that MVP Cotter. Now at Asonio, I've had a hand in crafting technology policy, whether it's writing, writing a charter, or evaluating the ROI of new tools and systems. And then finally, I've been involved with the Technology Subcommittee for, I think, going on seven years. And I'm the current chair.

[Marty Turner]

I'll go next. Marty Turner, Project Director at Turner and Townsend. Let's see, I got involved with technology probably shortly after I joined cmaa. My very first conference that I attended, there was a presentation on BIM. And this was way back in the mid 2000s, I want to say around 2008, 2009 ish, and was fascinated by what the implications were, being able to visualize the design in a 3D model and started to see the value of how construction could really benefit from progressing work in that space. And then from there it just, the passion continued, finding better tools and ways to do what we do. On a daily basis, whether it's project management, project controls, you name it, right from anything in the PMCM space. Yeah, it's been an interesting ride. A lot has changed and a lot has stayed the same. Vinny, I'll toss it to you.

[Vincent Testa]

So my story goes back a little bit further and I don't even know if I've told this to Marty and Brian, but in high school I was part of our technology team. Had my C and A plus certifications and my senior year every couple weeks we'd go to a Micron plant and pick up old computers and rebuild them for the county. So I got involved at a very young age in high school doing those courses and then since then have led initiatives at my past employer Jacobs Join Initiatives and Technology Deployment. But now I'm helping lead some technology strategy at Pro Con Consulting.

[Carly Trout]

Brian, I feel like when we talk about AI, it might have different definitions, people might think have different ideas about AI when it's brought up. Can you let us know that what the term AI means for the construction industry?

[Brian Tracy]

Yes, at least I can try. Because the phrase AI is really a catch all term for a type of technology to the extent that AI really exists and it's not the podcast for that. It's only in a narrow way that can specialize in one thing. Think about self driving cars like you mentioned, or computers that can play chess. The AI of sci fi that can think and act like a human or beyond. That's not really around as far as anyone's admitting. There are related terms to AI like machine learning, generative algorithms, large language models. But it's much easier conversationally to just use the single term of AI. With that out of the way, we're seeing this technology enter our industry in a few ways. First, there are general AI programs that are being applied to our work. This would include your ChatGPT, Claude Copilot, Gemini and the like. They're built for broad use, but can certainly be applied to construction management tasks. Another category are being developed specifically for our industry like scheduling, estimating design, photo and video management, and much more.

[Vincent Testa]

Yeah, Brian, let me go ahead and add there too. So I know a lot of people we talk to in the industry when you bring up AI, they think of the chat, GPTs and autonomous vehicles and things like that. But it's a catch all like you said, and it's used kind of widely. But our industry really is the machine learning, the autonomous vehicles, the generative learning algorithms. It's a number of things that are already deployed there that People just don't realize that is AI in our industry. So that's one of the cool things that nobody realizes is it's already there. It's just how it's being deployed in that broad term.

[Marty Turner]

I guess my view on it is I see it more in a useful manner, a very focused lens. It's. I think of it as a digital assistant, right? It's something, it's an aid, a tool really to help me generate ideas. It's. It's my 3 o'clock whiteboard, if you will. Sometimes when I can't get the brain going in the afternoon, I'm like, you know what? I'm like, what do I need to. I need some starter concepts on something that I'm work on, like helping to make sure I have the full and complete construct from a PEP or a risk management plan or something like that. It's obviously everything we do has to be tailored to client, but you don't want to leave anything out. And so sometimes in the speed of things, we all work in big companies and the information's broadly stored in a million different places. Sometimes it's nice to just find a quick way to pull it all together and then utilize your own expertise and corporate knowledge to dial it in from there. But again, it provides a great top line starting point from anything to like give me the top line points of pull, plan scheduling, give me the top line so I can explain it to somebody concisely, that kind of thing. If I'm working with like a mentor, protege type of relationship where I need to give a construct, there's the world according to Marty and then there's the industry definition and it's good to have both. So it does provide that great digital assistant.

[Nick Soto]

I will take the world of Marty. Thank you very much. So listen, I have kids. A lot of our listeners have kids. We've seen the movie Wall E. We've all been on the exhibit floor. We see the Boston Dynamics robo dogs, we see the videos of the robots running obstacle course. Is it reality that these AI robots and these AI is going to replace everyone's job one day soon? Marty?

[Marty Turner]

I would say no. I think the same concern could have. You could take this all the way back to the Industrial Revolution, right? I think folks, when factory started up and the cotton gin replaced hand picking of different textiles and so forth, I think the idea is that will it take jobs? No, I think it'll reform the types of jobs. I think it provides us again with an assist to be more effective in where we Apply our time. I don't see it as a threat to what we do. I had this discussion with Brian when we did a presentation on this once upon a time. And we likened it to a summer intern. Right. Or an intern or a graduate development student. You give them an assignment, but would you take that assignment and give it right to the client without looking at it, providing contents, your experience, that kind of thing? Right. It's a good starting point, but it's certainly not in final form coming out.

[Nick Soto]

I don't know. My kids are asking Google why they're doing their homework to answer their math question for them and not checking the math. So I guess it depends on who you are, but let's hope that Marty.

[Brian Tracy]

They'Re checking the work.

[Marty Turner]

Yes. No, I think that. Well, and that comes down to professionalism, Right. That's where the landscape of AI gets really interesting. Right. We can all see the value to time and the assist, but I think you cannot just simply take something that's metadata with a few algorithms guiding the answers to give you the dialed in on a subject as the final answer. I think you owe it to yourself, you owe it to your clients to give them that expertise that you bring. And I don't think the products coming out from that are at that level. Right. It still takes the human touch to guide it and make it and conform it to the need.

[Vincent Testa]

And Marty, when you were a kid, I'm sure you and I and Brian all had the same dream of taking meeting minutes and documenting RFIs and connecting pictures to them. I'm sure we all had that dream of doing that as a construction manager. But with the labor shortage, I'm sure you, me, Brian, we could all talk to it, but do you want to elaborate on the labor shortage and how I can help with some of those tasks?

[Brian Tracy]

Yeah, Vinnie, that's a great point. We're trying to attract more talent to our industry. It's desperately needed and we want to be able to sell this career in the way that we enjoy it. Watching work being built that helps people in their everyday lives and solving unique challenges. To the extent we can have AI or technology automate the parts of our job that we like the least, the more attractive we're going to be to try and close that labor gap.

[Carly Trout]

Vinnie, given all the things that AI can potentially do for the industry, in your opinion, I guess what items have the highest potential to become more efficient with the use of AI?

[Vincent Testa]

So there's a lot of mundane tasks that it can replace. Like I was just referencing meeting minutes and RFIs and photo cataloging. There's a lot of easy things like they can take administrative tasks out of our hands and put them into AI to help us formulate. That right there will keep us with skilled labor and will help us with the labor shortage that we're seeing in the market right now. There's planning design tasks that it can absolutely help with. I'm working right now on estimating and doing counts of different widgets and square footages. We're looking at risk management and different items that are happening there as far as generating schedules and pulling up high risk estimated items. And then we're looking at reporting and communications for faster dialogue back and forth and better decision making on that end because it never hurts to have that information that you have in five different documents get compounded for a leadership discussion in two seconds.

[Brian Tracy]

Vinny, I'll tack on to that last point you made about faster decision making. And it's a point that we've made at conference presentations that the professional construction managers that we work with and the owners and clients are exceptionally smart and can make great decisions if they understand the reality, the actual facts. If we could just agree on what the truth is. But it's so hard in our industry where every project is its own prototype with new teams to be able to get to that point. And if technology can help us collect data, analyze data, get to an agreed upon truth faster, then we will be making faster and better decisions.

[Nick Soto]

So I've heard stories about practical uses of AI in the construction industry, and we all know that some owners are slower to adopt technology than others. And I've actually heard of when an owner has declined a bid because they could tell that AI was used to help generate those bids. How do you think the owners are going to adapt? And when will they be ready to adopt the use of AI in things like project bids or part of the project scope?

[Marty Turner]

Marty, I think that's an interesting question. It is funny. I couldn't imagine simply using AI to submit a bid again. Our industry is really based on relationships and client understanding and knowledge of scope. Again, the AI provides a good top line and gets you in the ballpark. But to be responsive in a proposal scenario, I would again be a little bit reluctant to rely on that to carry my bid. In fact, if that's what I'm competing against, I'm going to win nine times out of 10, unless somebody's just not paying attention. Because clearly the differentiator is the experience we bring. It's the understanding, it's the use and application of that technology. It's not a pure 100% rogue reliance on it.

[Vincent Testa]

And Marty, let me add there that AI is a good drafting tool when it comes to writing up an approach or writing up an outline. But it is still years away from being able to read your mind on how to approach a problem or a significant task and then take your company standpoint on how you perform and do work and your ethical belief and then apply that to a specific targeted client that is asking for you to respond to an rfp. But there are things out there that it can definitely help with enhancing the expertise that you bring to the table and helping make that more apparent and efficient in those tasks.

[Carly Trout]

So this is a really good segue into the next question. Brian, talking about the regulatory and ethical considerations when implementing AI. I believe nist, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, has a report on artificial intelligence. So can we talk a little bit about the regulatory and ethical considerations?

[Brian Tracy]

Absolutely. And those are two interrelated but separate topics. So let's start with ethics, which as construction managers we're called and required to incorporate into our everyday practice. Working with AI is no different than working with anything else we do. Our work starts with being honest and transparent. A client wouldn't expect one of us to just google information and pass it off as expertise, but they do expect us to be resourceful and developing solutions. Like Marty said, using it as a digital assistant, as a research tool, it doesn't replace your skills, it gets you faster to a decision point. Now every firm is going to have their own profile of how they think AI can work in their product. And to the extent that they want to communicate that and disclose it to their clients, that's going to be an evolving landscape as we go ahead. But if we go back to being honest and transparent and making sure that the work we sign off on is truly our own, that's always a good rooting point from a regulatory standpoint. I'm glad you referenced the NIST report because like every new technology, it has equal potential to do good and do bad. And having framework and agreed upon set of parameters that it can work for good. But knowing how it can work for bad and how do we guard against that is really helpful. And the NIST report talks about things you would naturally guess of having confidently wrong information or showing bias. But some other things you may not think of that I'm gladness does of there are some bad actors that could get information much faster on how to do bad things and how do we guard against that in these tools. So it's not meant to be scary. It's meant to be eyes wide open about how we together teach this tool to be as responsible and ethical as we ourselves would be.

[Vincent Testa]

Marty, I'm going to throw this out there because you and I went back and forth on our spring presentation. It's getting forced on us because you have Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, all these products that we use in our day to day jobs are building AI into their tools. I get emails now and in the lengthy ones at least I get a summary from an AI bot that gives me the gist of the email that I'm reading. Same thing with chats internally, I get updates that say so and so is looking for this and so replied that they might have a solution. So it's a great summary tool. But as far as regulatory goes, it's getting forced into our industry through the tools we're utilizing day to day. Marty, if you want to expand on some of the things we talked about during the spring conference but I wanted to throw that out there because it's not just coming down from NIST and other regulatory groups. It's getting implemented in other work pools as well.

[Marty Turner]

It is an interesting situation for companies and our industry at all. We all know, especially in this group that construction industry, construction management were the late adopters in terms of technology. But you can see all around everybody else is forcing the issue and the tools are already prepackaged in your Microsoft 365 right copilot there which forces companies, legal teams and everything to grapple with ethical and use applications. Right. And how do we let people use it and what parameters, what's safe and every company's got to make that decision for themselves. But I think it's good that the more that weighed into the pool it starts to form the basis of what is sound business practice and industry standard. There's still companies that haven't taken the training wheels off or even opened up. You can see the little icon for co pilot but you're not allowed to use it or if you try to use it, it doesn't do anything. I think this is where sometimes there's an advantage to the smaller, more boutique companies because they can actually get out there and try some of this stuff ahead of time. But there is also obviously the danger of walking off the cliff, be the first to walk off a cliff. So I think it's a balancing act. But again I think it is good to see the general flow of the industry moving that way and I Think everybody's approaching it from a sound business acumen. And again, the lens that I put on it as the digital assistant. To your point, summaries are fantastic. Right. Not everybody speaks cogently, succinctly, gets to the point, myself included. But it's nice to have that ability to dial in. Oh, what Marty just rambled on for 20 minutes about was actually these three main points. Right. That's fantastic. The time savings there alone is worth.

[Nick Soto]

Yeah. But Marty, let's continue on this because I love the summaries, but you're going to miss details. Right. There's some details in there that you may miss. The measurements didn't come out in the summary. All those things are great. But let's talk about some of the challenges and limitations of using generative AI in construction management.

[Marty Turner]

No, I think you just hit the nail on the head. Right. It's application. Right. You wouldn't want to turn over structural reviews to AI unfettered. Right. Just allowing a bridge or something to just be completely, just totally done AI without having the expertise of a registered engineer. Right. Professional engineer signing off on that. Right. Taking responsibility, ownership, knowing the things, the nuances that maybe are unique to this aspect.

[Vincent Testa]

Right.

[Marty Turner]

I think that's where it gets dangerous. I think you have to understand what it can do and what it can't do. And again, I think it's a judgment call as to what works for you and in your role in your company's vision for how they want to utilize things. But yeah, it comes down to application 100%. So to your point, there are certain things where it's absolutely essential you get the detail. And I don't think you can dismiss that with just a top line summary of things.

[Brian Tracy]

Marty, I think we can draw an analogy to a very scary technology from yesteryear, which was the elevator. And when they were first invented, people looked at them and said, no chance unless there was someone in that elevator operating it. And I think that's where we're at with AI right now is it shouldn't be trusted on its own. But if you have an expert who knows the process and is transparent about how it's used, it can be a very effective tool. And someday we might get to the point where it is just innately just part of the background, like elevators are today. But we're not quite there.

[Nick Soto]

I was going to say, I don't know, I'm a little scared of some elevators. I've been in some. You've been stuck in a few.

[Brian Tracy]

I'm not allowed to talk about past legal projects here, I'll just say with this, it is an interesting balance, and anyone who isn't familiar with the technology adoption curve should go look into that. It's interesting to see how a technology can jump out and people think it's going to become all the things that never will. But it eventually settles into where it's going. And right now we're in a very early stage. And so there's a balance between all of the hard work of a normal technology adoption learning curve, investment of time and labor, balancing that against the fear of missing out. Everyone feels that they will be left behind if they don't use it, which is not the case. The best way to use it is to use it the right way when it's right for you.

[Vincent Testa]

I throw out a shameless plug here. There's a new movie on Netflix that actually incorporates AI into a headpiece that allows its user to integrate fully with AI. And the fear there was hacking. They had a world disaster where hacking the headpieces caused a lot of deaths and disaster. If you could talk about the learning curve and the data usage and data analytics that come through that, there's a lot of vision out there on what it can do and how it can do it. But the biggest thing is the data quality, like Marty was talking about, and then making sure that there's somebody with hands on the wheel.

[Marty Turner]

Yeah. You just go back to a couple of years back when the big rave was business intelligence. Right. I think the same case was made there. Right. We were utilizing it to formulate graphs and summaries and visualizations of data. But people would bring you stuff, and if you had to have that expertise to go, this doesn't smell right. It didn't pass a sniff test. Just because you could produce it fast didn't make it accurate. Just because you could visualize it didn't make it accurate. You still have to have that expertise to discern what is good and what is bad. So I think that's where we are now with AI. You have to be able to say, this data set's pulling something that's scudding the data. I think we did in one of the presentations where I think Brian asked for directions on something and it gave completely wrong directions. Again, if you're not gut checking this stuff or you have enough sense to it's one data point, but you use it in conjunction with common sense, knowledge and other data points to form a decision before you react otherwise to Brian's point, you'll end up at the wrong end of town, on a wrong plane, eating the wrong sandwich, that kind of thing.

[Brian Tracy]

Your memory is pretty good, Marty. I had asked it to book me a flight to the CMAA conference, which it confidently did. It knew my home airport and the destination airport. It knew when the conference was. It just thought it was one year later in time that it actually was. So it was sending me to the wrong one.

[Carly Trout]

It's interesting that you all are talking about just examples of previous technologies that have been implemented, but it just makes me curious about the future of this technology of AI. We often ask listeners to look five years down the road and let us know what you think the landscape is going to be. So Vinny, what's your best guess here? How do you think the role of Generative will be evolving and what do you think it will look like in five years in construction?

[Vincent Testa]

So in the next five to 10 years we expect AI to become more integrated into all aspects of construction management. This includes more sophisticated predictive analytics, advanced robotics for construction tasks, and AI driven design tools. AI will also likely enhance sustainability efforts by optimizing resource use and reducing waste. So full disclosure, that was actually written by AI and our crystal ball is no clear. We see it doing some of the similar tasks there, but it's definitely going to find its way in. We've alluded it Microsoft and Google already implementing stuff. There's already NIST standards that are coming out, regulatory guidance. So it's getting thought through in multiple platforms, but it's coming. I don't think it's going to replace anybody's jobs, but it's definitely going to enhance and make us more efficient.

[Marty Turner]

Pick up on a word you utilized in the AI generated response integration. I think that is absolutely where it's going to go in terms of the world of project controls. Right? The best in class is fully integrated project controls, right? Cost schedule and risk worked in uniform to formulate your best decision making. I think that's exactly how this tool is going to go. It'll become easier to use, the filters will become more effective as the legal and ethical demands are placed upon the tool and technology. I think it'll start to take shape and become the laser sharp tool with defined scripts. And again, the beauty of technology is it can take something that's common and find an uncommon application for it. So I think we'll start to see new use applications that will result. But I think the things that we're currently doing today will become more refined.

[Brian Tracy]

And integrated and we know how hard it is for any person to adopt yet another tool to do the work they do. And I think one way that we'll see this is probably invisibly being integrated into the tools we're already using on the committee. We're lucky to work with a lot of the biggest vendors in the industry and we're hearing consistently from them that this is where they're going. They're using it to make their existing products better rather than having people have one more thing to keep track of. In five to 10 years, everything we do might be more efficient, but we might not have to actually opt into that. It's just making the things we already use better.

[Nick Soto]

I will say that we only have time for one more question, but this leads into a whole nother podcast which is cybersecurity and how they're going to protect us from AI being hacked and other things as we hear that in our day to day lives more and more. But Brian, can you let our listeners know if they want to find out more information about construction management technology or AI? Where would you direct them?

[Brian Tracy]

I'll start selfishly that the CMAA Technology subcommittee has an incredible roster of talented members who just geek out on this sort of stuff and we're the ones casting that wide net, reading all of the new innovations, going to the conferences, talking to the vendors and trying to actually figure out what's going to be usable and at what scale for the membership. And the committee pushes that out to the membership in a number of ways. We've got this podcast, we have CMAA webinars, there's the newsletter and then the fall and spring conferences. There are usually multiple sessions with the Technology Committee. This year's no different and we have some very exciting ones on AI coming up in San Francisco. Beyond our own committee and some of our friends across the industry trying to do this together, we do keep tabs on some other organizations. Built Worlds, enr, Future Tech are both really great resources and there are even some technology specific VC firms that have emerged in recent years and you'll see a lot of growth out of those because that's where the money's going.

[Nick Soto]

Well, Marty, Vinnie, Brian, you represent the Technology Committee and it's always a pleasure speaking with you. I know that you guys released the Technology management guidelines earlier this year, so congratulations on that. And the CMAA is always looking for good volunteers to join committees like the Technology Committee. If you're interested in joining any of our committees, including technology, you can go and log into cmaanet.org volunteerwithcmaa Again, that's cmaanet.org volunteer with CMAA. Coming up on our next podcast, we are going to be joined by the author of how to Become a Civil Engineer and join his journey of how to pursue your dream Career and figure out how to offer those similar opportunities to different underrepresented communities, as well as partner with a few of our CMAA members to help drive success. Make sure you download or subscribe to the podcast and follow us on social media. Maahq don't forget to leave us your review and a thought of today's episode and let us know what you'd like to hear on an upcoming podcast. On behalf of cmaa, I'm Nick Soto with Carly Trout. Thank you for listening.