Emerging Technology

How AI is revolutionizing productivity, efficiency and knowledge sharing

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The industry stands on the brink of a major transformation, yet the question remains: How can construction teams turn the promise of artificial intelligence (AI) into tangible benefits?

In their panel discussion, “Building Tomorrow: AI Is Revolutionizing Construction Across the Globe,” Amy Jones, Skanska’s director of data and analytics, Joy Durling, Procore’s chief data officer and Tessa Lau, CEO of Dusty Robotics, offered perspectives from an industry-leading general contractor, software provider and robotics startup.

To answer this question, Skanska, Procore and Dusty Robotics teamed up at ENR FutureTech 2024, the premier forum for construction technology, to discuss the pragmatic implementation of AI to increase efficiency and productivity, reduce costs, and improve access to knowledge for construction teams.

Skanska: Leading the charge in AI adoption

Skanska’s strategic approach to AI ensures speed to value while maximizing impact for project teams. The company’s Data Solutions team has established a framework that enables an agile response to the rapid advancement of AI technology.

According to FMI, 96 percent of construction data goes unused and 90% of that data is unstructured. Generative AI allows us to unlock insights from these previously unusable datasets.

- Amy Jones, Director of data analytics

Amy categorized AI offerings into four distinct service categories:

Publicly available services: Tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.
Embedded in daily tools: AI tools within enterprise platforms like Procore and Microsoft.
Third-party AI vendors for specific use cases: Partnerships with companies like Dusty Robotics.
Proprietary AI: Internally developed tools like Skanska Sidekick.

Procore: Harnessing the power of data

Joy Durling, Procore’s chief data officer, emphasized the importance of quality data in driving AI advancements.

Whether you're leveraging machine learning or generative AI, it's all about the input. If you're not focused on the right process or input from the standard operating procedure, it's going to be impossible to get that training data to do anything magical from an AI perspective.

- Joy Durling, Procore’s chief data officer

Procore can derive insights from its extensive data repository, encompassing over 1 million projects, 1 billion construction documents and $1 trillion in construction volume processed on its platform. With this vast dataset, Procore users can harness AI's power to drive efficient cost management and improve field productivity.

Following the FutureTech panel, Procore announced three significant AI products in development:

Conversational AI for project management: Procore Copilot AI integrates with Microsoft Teams, allowing users to ask questions about Procore projects and receive comprehensive summaries and relevant links to project documentation.
Automated location management: AI Locations will allow users to scan project drawings and automatically build out project location lists.
Enhanced visual data: Procore Maps will enable viewability of photos on a map to understand work status across all areas of a project to help optimize workflows and reduce delays.

Dusty Robotics: Revolutionizing on-site operations

With 41% of the industry’s most experienced workers expected to retire by 2031, the impending knowledge debt is a critical concern. Tessa Lau, CEO of Dusty Robotics, shared insights into how AI and robotics can supercharge the teams doing the challenging work of construction.

Teams in the field are working off the minimum information because it's so painful and expensive to get that information out into the field. Once you have a robot…it's not just about drawing lines on the floor, it's about bringing more of that information out into the field where it's actionable.

- Tessa Lau, CEO of Dusty Robotics

Skanska embraced Dusty Robotics' Multi-trade Layout Robot at Sutter Health’s Samaritan Court Ambulatory Care and Surgery Center project. Using the Dusty FieldPrinter, Skanska automated the printing of mechanical, electrical, plumbing, framing and drywall layouts for the three-story, 70,000 square-foot mixed-use medical facility.

This autonomous robot created a single source of truth for Skanska’s trade partners, eliminating bottlenecks while increasing layout speed and reducing change orders. Tessa stressed the importance of an accurate BIM model and quality data to ensure the precision of AI-driven robots.

The future of AI in construction

The panelists unanimously agreed that the construction industry is poised for profound transformation driven by AI. Amy stressed the importance of a long-term, ground-up approach for general contractors, highlighting Skanska’s proactive investment in their data program.

Our data journey started about 2017. We realized we had a lot of siloed data. It did not talk to each other, so we put a foundational structure in place. That foundation made it possible to unlock the benefits of machine learning and AI.

- Amy Jone, Director of data analytics

Workplace culture, continuous education and workforce upskilling are essential for the construction industry to fully harness AI's transformative potential and maximize its value for strategic decision-making. Joy spoke about some best practices for scaling new technology and software.

We all have those key champions inside of our culture. It’s critical to get the right business sponsor and start small. Find that first and best use case that you can prove out and prove it out well, then things start to catch on.

- Joy Durling, Procore’s chief data officer

The construction industry faces a pressing issue: the vast amount of data generated during construction projects creates a massive burden for project teams. According to a 2023 Deloitte study, teams spend an average of 11.5 hours weekly searching for data.

Advancements in AI present a significant opportunity to alleviate this burden, enabling teams to better allocate their time and focus on human strengths—strategic coordination, problem-solving and operational excellence.

My whole philosophy is about giving people superpowers. Robots don't have the common sense and the judgment to solve problems and make things happen. Technology is a way to supercharge the people out in the field, office and trailer to do their best work. And that's what we’ve seen with Dusty.

- Tessa Lau, CEO of Dusty Robotics

Realizing the full potential of AI’s transformative impact requires a robust data infrastructure and a continuous commitment to data integrity. These foundational elements ensure that AI-derived insights are grounded in reliable information.

As AI adoption expands, construction teams must prioritize workforce development and increase data literacy efforts. The industry can proactively address the looming knowledge gap by harnessing AI to preserve and disseminate critical construction knowledge, boosting productivity, driving efficient cost management and improving project outcomes.

View the entire panel discussion from ENR: Building Tomorrow: AI Is Revolutionizing Construction Across the Globe