Applicability Study Of Artificial Intelligence For Construction Project Management

In the 21^st century,the human race is entering into a digital age.One of the major technological advancements during this digital era is artificial intelligence.Even though many studies about the application and impact of artificial intelligence have been performed,there is still a lack of study about artificial intelligence for construction project managemen t,especially on the attitude of construction project managers and construction exec utives towards artificial intelligence-related applications.Furthermore,even though the construction industry contributes a lot to the world’s economy and job market,it is lagging in innovation when compared to other industries.Thus,the purpose of thi s research is to study the applicability of artificial intelligence in the construction industry,and more specifically,to study in what ways artificial intelligence can assist construction project managers,and identify the challenges of implementing artificial intelligence in construction organizations.This study utilized a combination of comprehensive literature review,empirical survey questionnaires,and online interviews.The literature review identified three potential benefits of utilizing artificial intelligence for construction project management:automation,risk mitigation,and high efficiency.Subsequently,an empirical survey was conducted wi th 84construction project managers from different continents,including Asia,Africa,the Middle East,Europe,and the Americas.The result from the survey responses identified the top five aspects of construction project management that could use support from artificial intelligence:project planning,budgeting,documentation,information management,and risk management.The result of this survey was further used to design a more in-depth online interview with 9 con struction project managers who participa ted in the previous survey.From the interview responses,four major findings were identified:1)the large potential for AI implementation for construction project management;2)the tendency of manual&repetitive construction management tasks to be assisted or replaced by artificial intelligence;3)the good foundation for the implementation of AI systems in construction organizations in terms of the use of big data;4)the importance of preconstruction phase s for the success of construction projects and their tendency to be assisted by artificial intelligence.Furthermore,a majority of construction project managers that participated in this study established a need for support from artificial intelligence to assist in construction project management tas ks,especially on tasks that they identified as repetitive in nature.This study also identified that there is a good foundation for the construction organizations to implement artificial intelligence.However,several challenges for adopting artificial intelligence were also identified,among which are the lack of a business strategy for adopting artificial intelligence,the wide gap between construction project managers’knowledge and understanding of artificial intelligence,and the potential return on i nvestment for implementing artificial intelligence relevant software.