AI can't build a high-rise, but it can speed up the job

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

artificial intelligence, a billboard at a construction site in Antwerp, Belgium, in June read «Hey ChatGPT, finish this building.» Artificial intelligence, the technology that powers chatbots like ChatGPT, won't be assembling apartments or erecting stadiums anytime soon, but in construction — an industry stereotypically known for clipboards and Excel spreadsheets — the rapid embrace of the technology may change how quickly projects are finished. Drones, cameras, mobile apps and even some robots are increasingly mapping real-time progress on sprawling job sites, giving builders and contractors the ability to track and improve a project's performance.

«Forget about robots building a skyscraper,» said James Swanston, CEO of Voyage Control, which makes project management software for construction sites. «It's a more fundamental thing, getting the data you need and then using it better.» The construction industry has long been considered a digital laggard, but architects regularly use digital tools to design projects and create blueprints.

Seeing tablets and drones on the same worksites as hard hats and safety vests is common. Now helmet-mounted cameras capture footage of a site to orchestrate when new crews or materials should arrive, and precise sensors can detect whether a new window is a few millimeters off the project blueprint and needs to be adjusted.

And AI is starting to be used in buying and selling real estate: JLL, a global broker, recently introduced its own chatbot to provide insights to its clients. This expanded analysis of data is laying the groundwork for what many hope will be substantial improvements in accuracy, speed and efficiency by reducing the bloated timelines and waste that have made construction