and these are the necessary steps we need to take to make the company more efficient and more profitable. So we are looking at managing data in a holistic way. And then thinking, ”How are we going to organize the data in a way so that in the future we will be able to apply AI and machine learning to help us in those decisions?”
CALIFORNIA CONSTRUCTOR:Artificial intelligence is clearly a big trend in all industries including construction. How do you view its potential?
ALICIA LOPEZ: We have been talking about AI for last couple years, and I see many opportunities. I’ve been using generative AI myself for the past year-and a-half, for brainstorming, for presentations, to learn about new things.
It is like having a personal assistant at your fingertips. In the company, we are researching AI tools for enhancing safety, for data analytics, scheduling, contract analysis, risk assessment. We have a large group of people testing a secure ChatGPT internal- ly. Some people are loading about 2,000 pages of technical reports and getting summaries. Some of them are using it for brainstorming. Some for data analytics. So we are just giving this technology to people so they can get familiar with it and think about how can use this tool in their work. At end of the pilot, they will share their use cases with us. People are always going to be creative when you give them tools. We also have an AI working group
within Flatiron and are already piloting and testing several AI tools. For instance,
for daily risk assessment on our projects we are testing a tool that uses AI to iden- tify what could be the safety hazards on the jobsite. It is an augmentation for our safety teams.
CALIFORNIA CONSTRUCTOR: Tere has been a fear in some parts of the in- dustry that AI will take jobs. How do you respond to that?
ALICIA LOPEZ: Tere continues to be a major shortage of workers in the con- struction industry in the United States. In my eye, AI is coming to augment and enhance our skills. If you embrace AI, it is going to help you. Tis is a message that we need to give to the industry. Tis tool is here to help us, to make life easier and better. Tat’s how we want our employees to approach these technologies.
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CALIFORNIA CONSTRUCTOR JULY/AUGUST 2024
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