AI has potential to create competitive advantage for AEC firms, and those that optimize it’s use will have the best chance to thrive in the coming years, according to consulting firm McKinsey.
 
“Firms that move quickly to reimagine workflows, improve data use, and automate work sites will thrive,” the firm said in a recent article. The McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) projects that the AEC industry could unlock roughly $228 billion by 2030 in annual value in the United States through AI and other automation technologies.
 
Firms should “focus on transforming domains—end-to-end processes that are small enough to be redesigned independently but large enough to deliver meaningful business impact—instead of deploying isolated use cases.”

For instance, AI can capture lessons from prior projects, including schedules, requests for information (RFIs), change orders, and numerous task-level decisions. That information can be made available to teams within daily workflows.
 
Much of AI’s value could come from areas where time, money, and margins are lost today, and where AI can quickly improve efficiency. Tasks such as invoicing, data entry, and equipment inspections are expected to change the most by 2030, the article says.