A scan of the news shows an industry adopting and adapting AI even as some of the hype subsides. Of course, generalizations are easy but imprecise. Construction is a huge industry, and no one knows exactly how widely generative AI has made inroads. Two years ago a study reported that 92 percent of construction companiers were using or planned to use AI. “Using or planned to use” is a pretty broad statement. 

Nevertheless, it’s clear that AI can help the construction industry in important ways, particularly regarding the management of the huge amounts of data involved in construction. And while construction companies may be in various stages of toeing the water, the software providers that service the industry are employing AI—from BIM to site surveying and safety reporting. 

Here are a few recent stories in the news:

How GenAI Boosts Productivity in The Construction Industry
As other industries have steadily grown their productivity in the last few decades, construction productivity has been stuck in the mud. It’s not hard to understand why. After all, you can’t digitize concrete. But generative AI’s ability to use large language models (LLM) to create new text and images through a natural language interface makes it a good fit for construction, from planning to jobsite execution. - Forbes
https://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2024/10/08/how-genai-boosts-productivity-in-the-construction-industry/ 

DroneDeploy Revolutionizes Safety Risk Detection in Construction with Launch of Safety AI
Drone Deploy, an aerial and ground reality capture platform, has announced the launch of Safety AI, a solution to automatically identify safety risks on construction sites using a combination of in-house developed proprietary AI and large multimodal models from Google and OpenAI. – October 1, 2024 DroneDeploy https://www.dronedeploy.com/product/dronedeploy-ground 

Drawer AI Comes Out of Stealth Mode With $5M in Seed Funding
The firm, which provides AI-powered electrical estimating system for construction utilizing
a generative artificial intelligence, has announced that it has closed a $5 million seed round. Commercial Observer https://commercialobserver.com/2024/10/drawer-ai-seed-round/ 

AI and digital tech will reduce construction costs by 2-3%
Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro Construction is leveraging AI and digital technologies in construction management to enhance efficiency and reduce project costs. AI and digital tech help in minimizing waste across key commodities such as steel, cement, and diesel, all of which are vital in large-scale projects, L&T Construction’s Head of the Corporate Centre R. Ganesan says. The Hindu Business Line https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/ai-and-digital-tech-will-reduce-construction-costs-by-2-3-lt-constructions-ganesan/article68697502.ece 

AI is killing cloud sustainability
The construction of more data centers to support AI systems makes it hypocritical to discuss sustainability at the same time. Sustainable AI is an oxymoron right now.
InfoWorld 
https://www.infoworld.com/article/3557945/ai-is-killing-cloud-sustainability.html