News Detail

Into the Concrete Future

9/5/2023

I regularly correspond with Steve Nolan, Senior Structures Design Engineer, Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), regarding construction and bridge engineering issues. Veering slightly out of our respective lanes, we recently had an interesting exchange of opinions on artificial intelligence (AI). With his concurrence, I would like to reprint some of the considerations emailed to me because I believe they are at the core of the issue, as it concerns the engineering and construction industry.

“…We all see the rapid proliferation of this emerging technology (AI), and inevitably along with the innovation, a rise in marketing for training and technical service selling, and perhaps a great potential for negative exploitation that lack of regulation and professional charting can breed. In the context of the civil engineering ecosystem, a big challenge for professionals will be to resist embracing the ‘black box’ with machine learning and generative AI, which are powerful tools that could ‘do the work’ for us. I hope our professional community can focus more on reducing the tedium and errors in our design analysis and production processes. Additionally, it should be possible to generate, with little effort, a broader and richer range of basic design concepts for more optimal solutions than currently possible, thus allowing (hopefully) more time for creative acts and deeper understanding of complex structural problems and material challenges that often elude us as a trade-off to meeting imposed deadlines. By extension, we should be able to create more interesting and rewarding jobs and careers, but not if we simply accelerate the design process. I hope we value growing talent above improving efficiency and cost savings.

I believe we should focus on growing and using these tools to provide ‘better’ designs and services, rather than just deliver them more economically at a faster pace. My fear is that instead, the industry could begin a ‘race to the bottom,’ by minimizing staff to maximize profits while only providing the current level of service, whether that is in generative design, construction oversight, building, or maintenance services. If this is the world we are entering, then I hope owners and agencies will demand corresponding improvement in the products and solutions to preserve our technical human talent. Professional organizations such as ACI, ASCE, and AISC should be advocating expansion of service to protect our collective vocations and continuing to grow our human industry capabilities and capacity for absorbing new talent. This might only be possible by raising the expectations of owners and clients for delivering better quality and service rather than creating a lean, AI-driven, time reduction delivery team.

…perhaps our mantra should be more than just ‘Building the Future’ through the ACI Foundation, but also grow it in the professional world as well. Let’s consider adding ‘Grow the Future!’ with the goals of preserving, improving, and growing talent and jobs.”

As is the case for any human discovery or scientific advancement, the good or bad that can come of them all depend on us. This is why knowledge and ethics are the two irreplaceable pillars to guide our choices for the true benefit of humankind (and hopefully the planet).

I also want to reflect on the ACI 24 Hours of Concrete Knowledge (24HCK) held July 11-12, 2023. In its third year, 24HCK remains a free, virtual conference that in this edition brought together 24 ACI chapters and partners to co-host, moderate, and engage concrete experts from their region to discuss recent research, trends, and studies coming from the concrete industry. The conference was available to anyone interested in learning more about concrete construction, design, and repair from all over the world. Individuals participated from 64 countries, totaling over 1500 registrations. On average, 744 attendees devoted almost 4 hours each. Apart from the exciting statistics, what does this mean? It tangibly shows that knowledge about concrete technology comes from anyone and everyone working on this subject matter independently of location and job title. It demonstrates that technical and societal progress is the result of collaboration, partnership, and shared values.

Some time ago, I read that the traits of leadership are to listen, learn, and lead. This is what the Institute strives to do. Our next challenge is how to reach out to constituencies beyond our own. How do we explain the essence of the concrete industry to the public and our elected officials, and how do we emphasize what concrete means for them? If you have ideas, contact me at antonio.nanni@concrete.org.

Antonio Nanni