Professional and Career Topics

Rushing to embrace AI for engineering and construction,

prior to better understanding of AI's challenges and opportunities

is not wise.

Q. What have you and/or your organization or university, society or association done to

first factually understand AI's application for engineering and/or construction?

Cheers,

Bill

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William M. Hayden Jr., Ph.D., P.E., CMQ/OE, F.ASCE
Buffalo, N.Y.

"It is never too late to be what you might have been." -- George Eliot 1819 - 1880
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A du jour topic – wouldn't you say, Bill. Not so much on Engineering & Construction per se – but on various aspect of AI – Chatbot, ChatGPT, in particular. But, all these have huge implications on civil engineering projects. For example, in the way some communications are getting affected – in the way some site visit reports are getting streamlined (in February 2024 this issue came up for discussion during the virtual round table conference on 'The Future of AI in Civil Engineering').

There are some published articles on this. Here are the links to some I came across:

• Influence of artificial intelligence

• Risks of Abuse of large language models, like ChatGPT

• Science vs. The Law

• The mechanisms of AI hype

In Artificial Intelligence – the Tool of No Limit article I have highlighted: Digital Twin Models - the exact replica of the physical objects in the digital domain is one such example. The model not only enhances the planning and design process capabilities, earmark bottlenecks and problem areas in real-time - but also prompts and set directions to efficient and timely management of project components. A NAP 26894 publication has highlights on various aspects of this method. This AIPPS – already in use – has huge potential in revolutionizing project planning, construction management and assessing effects and consequences. That does not mean, however – that they do not have challenges, or are robust already.

In the same article, some cautions and suggestions came up: Before divulging AIPPS out into the market place – it is important that they are calibrated with the societal moral and ethical values – to adapt AIPPS to them. Otherwise bad socioeconomic entropy (see Entropy and Everything Else) will creep in – to spiral down what common humanity has achieved. Both the user and the developer/programmer have the responsibility not to abuse the systems of AIPPS - during its development, application and communication to and from A to B. AI with its huge potentials can drag humanity more to the direction of Mechanical Civilization, therefore society should be very careful of the looming consequences. Perhaps it is important to slow down somewhat by phasing out progresses – to have time to reflect and evaluate the impacts of AIPPS on the future of mankind.

Dilip

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Dr. Dilip K Barua, Ph.D

Website Links and Profile

While I'm not using much AI (I do sparingly & carefully use OCR and automated transcriptions) and don't have any plans to start, I have been reading quite a lot of research about it because it's been a hot topic in another field I'm involved in for a while. I really appreciate Emily Bender's body of work on the topic; I think Situating Search & On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots in particular should be required reading for anyone using these tools. I'd also highly recommend Dr. Joy Buolamwini's Unmasking AI and Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O'Neil.

I'd love to turn the question back to you, what are you doing to understand AI's applications and limitations?

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Renn Henry
Staff Engineer
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• Leading AI Scientists Warn of Unleashing Risks Beyond Human Control[1]

AI experts warn of insufficient global action on AI risks, advocating for strict governance to avert potential catastrophes.

Leading AI scientists are urging world leaders to take more decisive actions on AI risks, highlighting that the progress made since the first AI Safety Summit in Bletchley Park six months ago has been inadequate.

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William M. Hayden Jr., Ph.D., P.E., CMQ/OE, F.ASCE
Buffalo, N.Y.

"It is never too late to be what you might have been." -- George Eliot 1819 - 1880
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-13-2024 11:44 AM
From: Brenna Henry
Subject: AI Applications for Engineering and Construction: Challenges & Opportunities  for Quality & Safety

While I'm not using much AI (I do sparingly & carefully use OCR and automated transcriptions) and don't have any plans to start, I have been reading quite a lot of research about it because it's been a hot topic in another field I'm involved in for a while. I really appreciate Emily Bender's body of work on the topic; I think Situating Search & On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots in particular should be required reading for anyone using these tools. I'd also highly recommend Dr. Joy Buolamwini's Unmasking AI and Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O'Neil.

I'd love to turn the question back to you, what are you doing to understand AI's applications and limitations?

------------------------------
Renn Henry
Staff Engineer
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