If you attended Digital Construction Week 2024, you'll know that Artificial Intelligence (AI) was a major theme of the two-day event. Karoliina Torttila, Director of AI at Trimble, led a conference on the role of AI in the renovation industry. Missed it? Find out in this Q&A session some of her thoughts on AI and the value it brings to the built environment...
Q) What is AI and how can we use it in the built environment?
I think the implications of AI for the built environment are so varied that it's impossible to give a single answer to this question. That said, there are two benefits that are perhaps the most exciting for me. The first is the role of AI in creation, which allows more freedom in our design processes. This could be the ability to design from different data modalities, from your floor plans and scans of the physical world to simple natural language.
The second is unrivalled efficiency in the creation of deliverables - whether it's taking your project specifications, creating your submission logs, then matching the two; automating costing; or processing your reality capture data.
Q) How are we already using AI?
Today, we're able to efficiently capture a lot of data about the physical world. However, doing so creates a volume of data that we simply can't process manually. AI can help by taking this data and processing it in real time with a high level of accuracy, to turn this data into easily actionable information - in essence, helping to connect the physical and the digital.
Q) What are the advantages of AI for designers?
Firstly, there are the rapid iterations that AI enables in the design phase. Then there are the efficiency gains in the design of details and complex structures such as reinforcement. So, even in the design phase, AI plays a valuable role, both in exploring alternative designs and in creating highly detailed ones.
Q) How can we use AI to transfer data from the design office to the site?
