The latest webinar in FIDIC’s 2024 series of online events will take a deeper dive into the highly topical issue of artificial intelligence (AI) and its growing potential to transform the construction and infrastructure sector.

The webinar, AI - powering a new era for construction? The potential of artificial intelligence to transform the industry, takes place on Tuesday 26 March 2024 and has been organised by FIDIC’s Digital Transformation Committee, the group which plays a key role in advocating and guiding FIDIC and the consulting engineering community on the use of new and existing technologies.

The online event will look at the fast-moving and often-changing area of AI in the engineering, construction and infrastructure sector, focusing on real-world applications and technologies which are revolutionising the design, construction, operation and maintenance of major global infrastructure projects.

An expert line-up of international speakers has been assembled for the webinar which includes global engineering consultants working with AI, strategic advisers in the digital field and experts in digital innovation and implementation.

The speaker line-up is listed below.

• Martina Hess, Director CES Consulting Engineers, FIDIC Board (Zambia).
• Stacy Sinclair, Partner and Head of Technology and Innovation, Fenwick Elliott and chair of the FIDIC Digital Transformation Committee (UK).
• Steve Lewis, Partner, Ernst & Young Transactions (Hong Kong).
• Tony Scott, CEO, NeuralRays AI (UK).
• Kunihiro Uzawa, General Manager, Singapore, Nippon Koei (Singapore).
• Simon Oster, Global Data Scientist Manager, Arcadis (Netherlands).
• Dave Mackenzie, Managing Principal, Digital, Aurecon (Australia).

The speakers will talk about a range of issues including highlighting the content and conclusions of a new global industry report on AI and its use, AI’s application for infrastructure projects in Singapore as well as in other Asian countries, how AI and generative AI solutions are being used across the global AEC industry, the legal implications of using AI and how AI is being applied to help clients use emerging technologies to create innovative solutions that deliver positive human and business outcomes.

Speaking to the digital website IndustryWired, one of the webinar speakers, Tony Scott, CEO of NeuralRays AI, commented on the pace of AI-driven innovation which was happening at a much more accelerated pace than ever largely due to barriers to entry for start-ups no longer being there. “With cloud services you do not have to buy any kit and when you add to this the availability of free open source libraries, bright and creative people with the best ideas are finding it far easier to shape, test and launch new products,” he said. “It is an amazingly exciting time to be involved in digital transformation. It is even more exciting solving problems that had been considered impossible previously or creating solutions that had never been dreamt of before,” said Scott.

Commenting on the potential effects of AI in the construction sector, Stacy Sinclair, head of technology and innovation at law firm Fenwick Elliott and chair of FIDIC's Digital Transformation Committee, said: “The landscape of AI is rapidly evolving. We need to embrace it as the enabler that it is, paying careful attention to its risks and challenges, or get left behind. Construction law is on the cusp of a complete transformation.”

Continuing the governance theme, Aurecon's managing principal for digital, Dave Mackenzie, said: “The potential economic impact of generative AI is increasingly well understood, what remains to be seen is if organisations are prepared to leverage and take advantage of the advancements or if new entrants will be a disrupting force. A potential risk emerging is paralysis around governance, ethics and responsible/explainable AI that can slow adoption or grind it to halt. While this space is maturing a careful balance must be struck to ensure that innovation can occur at pace while be safe.”

Simon Oster will discuss Arcadis' strategic integration of AI technologies to address the challenges within a fragmented industry. “By adopting and customising GPT models, Arcadis has not only enhanced existing tools but also developed new Chat and RAG platforms, leading to significant efficiency improvements and helping the company to gain deeper insights into AI usage. Embracing AI also necessitates strategic decisions, focusing on training, mitigating risks and embracing a cultural shift towards understanding and leveraging AI technologies,” said Oster.

You can hear more from Tony, Stacy, Dave, Simon and the rest of the speakers at this webinar by registering at the link below.

Click here to reserve your place at the webinar, AI - powering a new era for construction?