More commonly referred to as AI, the official definition is: “The theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence.”
But you probably recognize Artificial Intelligence as simple everyday things like ride sharing apps or spam filters in your email. So how do ride sharing apps like Lyft and Uber determine the price of your ride or minimize your wait times? And how does your email platform understand what messages are considered spam and automatically send them to your Junk folder? Through machine learning.
So it’s clear that AI is everywhere, and it’s not going away anytime soon. But even though it’s become more prominent in recent years, it’s been around for much longer than you might expect.
History of Artificial Intelligence
The term itself was actually coined in 1956 when machines were taught Checkers strategies and reportedly learned to play better than the average human. By the mid-1960s, research was led and funded by the Department of Defense and laboratories were established worldwide to continue improving the technology.
The DoD wanted to train computers to think like a human brain would, which is what we know Artificial Intelligence to do today, but on a much larger scale. Though development slowed down in the years following, it came back around in present day for things like logistics, data mining, and medical diagnosis.
In a 2017 survey by the MIT Sloan Management Review, one in five companies stated they started using Artificial Intelligence in some offerings or processes, and 23% of respondents had pilot programs in progress.
Where does it stand today?
Artificial Intelligence in Construction
One year later, McKinsey did a similar survey and found that the number of companies adopting AI had increased to about 47%. However, the majority of companies did state “their organizations lack the necessary skills and practices to create value from AI at scale.”
In fact, 43% said their hesitation is due to a lack of a clear AI strategy and 44% cited the lack of appropriate skill. In the construction industry, many times both are true.
So even though adoption of AI in construction is slow right now, it doesn’t mean it won’t pick up the pace. According to the Wall Street Journal, the expectation is that over the next few decades Artificial Intelligence “will be the biggest commercial opportunity for companies” with advances expecting to increase the GDP by up to 14% by 2030. If the Construction industry is smart, it will follow suit.