construction-based. But as the core talk goes, it really plays across every industry.


CALIFORNIA CONSTRUCTOR:What kind of feedback have you gotten from peo- ple attending your speaking sessions?


JAMES SPELLOS: Te fact that I’m get- ting hired by these companies afterwards to come and work with them says every- thing that I need to know. I’m always focused on the question, “Did you get one thing that you could use?” Tis year alone I’ve done three-to-four construction conferences already (as of April).


Small and midsized companies have the most to gain, because they don’t have full-time IT staff or huge amounts of peo- ple working for them. So the fact that these tools can be used by people who don’t need to know any coding whatsoever is game-changing. And it really is nothing more than a continuation of where the technology has been going during the past 10 years.


CALIFORNIA CONSTRUCTOR: What are some tips people expect to hear to help them be more efficient and productive at work?


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JAMES SPELLOS: I essentially don’t use Google anymore. ChatGPT produces a much more complete answer, but you have to know how to prompt it. If you just give it a basic prompt, you’ll get back the same basic answer as Google. Te best tip is to think of it as your


brainstorming buddy and not as a re- ceptacle for answers. When people start asking simple questions, they get simple answers. So for example, your prompt may be “Give me three ways that the construction industry can use generative AI, and then consider two of those ways that aren’t as good and tell me the one way that it is great.” It’s a long prompt, but exactly what you should do, because what you’re doing is telling it to role play and giving it the ability to self-critique. And if you need images, the game has completely changed; it’s phenomenal. What we’re seeing now is so much dif- ferent from even a year-and-a-half ago.


CALIFORNIA CONSTRUCTOR: The construction industry has a reputation for being a bit slow to change when it comes to adopting technology. Have you noticed that, and how receptive is this industry to generative AI, in general?


JAMES SPELLOS: I’ve been speaking in the construction industry for about 17 years, starting with more of a fo- cus on the accounting components, and I’ve seen a huge change as people have become much more receptive to technology than ever before. But they are more scared of AI than they have been of other things, because of the fear-mongering that is out there – that it will take away or change your job. But to not use AI because you are afraid of what could happen, when you are using all these other tools, just means you have just bought into the convenience


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CALIFORNIA CONSTRUCTOR JULY/AUGUST 2025


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