By Brian Petruzzi, PE, Emily Guglielmo, SE, PE, Christopher Cerino, PE
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to revolutionize the structural engineering profession. However, several obstacles must be addressed before AI can be fully integrated into practice. These challenges include a lack of vision or roadmap for AI’s impact on the industry; slow adoption of new technology; concerns about accuracy, risk, data privacy, and ethics; and the need for education and innovation. The National Council of Structural Engineers Associations (NCSEA) Foundation launched an Innovation in Structural Engineering (ISE) grant to lead the profession in embracing AI to revolutionize and empower structural engineers to be leaders in responsibly shaping the future of the built environment.
What Is Artificial Intelligence?
The concept of artificial intelligence was first described in 1955 by computer scientist John McCarthy as the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages. In the 1980s, AI began growing into a field of study that combined computer science and robust data sets to enable problem solving. AI took off in the 2010s with the development of highly efficient computer graphic card processors and access to large data sets. However, it wasn’t until the release of ChatGPT 3.5 in 2023 that AI was accessible, user-friendly, accurate, and efficient. As Stephanie Slocum wrote in her January STRUCTURE magazine article, “ChatGPT in Structural Engineering,” “ChatGPT is the fastest-adopted tool in the Internet age,” passing over 100 million users in just two months. Its impact on the field of AI has been profound, and it continues to inspire innovation and to drive advancements, including in the structural engineering profession.
Challenges Facing the Structural Engineering Profession
At a recent conference focused on the future of corporate real estate, Kay Sargent, Senior Principal at HOK, likened the current real estate environment as our industry’s Kodak moment. While we all know the story of Kodak being the first to invent digital photography, she emphasized Kodak’s challenges in monetizing the new technology. It wasn’t in their business plan, as they incorrectly identified their product as paper and film—not memories.
While AI is already being used in many structural engineering applications, there is no vision or roadmap that articulates the potential disruptions, impacts, and opportunities that AI will have on the profession. Consequently, very few structural engineering firms understand or embrace the AI movement. According to Goldman Sachs, architecture and engineering is in the top three industries with the greatest potential for transformation. This is due to AI, given the potential monetary gain and relative ease of training AI models given the codified nature of the profession. How will structural engineers continue to provide value to building owners after AI is widely adopted in the industry? Does our profession’s product change with this new technology? Developing a vision for our industry is difficult when we don’t fully understand the technology but is necessary to define our future.
To address these challenges, the NCSEA Foundation has selected AI as the topic for its inaugural Innovation in Structural Engineering (ISE) Grant. The 2023-2024 ISE grant program aims to:
Provide Education: Provide structural engineers with information on the latest developments in AI as it relates to the profession and outline future areas of study surrounding this topic.
Foster Innovation: Encourage structural engineers to explore, develop, and implement innovative AI solutions that enhance the efficiency, accuracy, and longevity of structural engineering practices
Promote Collaboration: Foster collaboration between structural engineers, AI experts, and other industry partners by encouraging the exchange of ideas and expertise to drive progress in the field.
Address Industry Challenges: Address key challenges faced by the structural engineering industry through the application of AI technologies, including ethical and legal areas.
Roadmap Development
To kick-off roadmapping efforts, members of the NCSEA Foundation Board of Directors, the AI Grant Team, and AI Advisory Board traveled to San Francisco in February for a two-day roadmapping session facilitated by .orgSource, an organization dedicated to supporting growth and innovation for industry associations and nonprofit organizations. The team spent this time thinking big and challenging the status quo. While discussions took place on current trends, challenges, and opportunities, much of the time was spent focusing on a desired future state of the profession and how advancements in technology will help us achieve this vision. What are some innovative AI applications that could revolutionize structural engineering in the next decade? What opportunities are there for AI to expand services structural engineers provide, ultimately providing greater value to their clients?
The AI roadmap for the structural engineering profession will be communicated out to the broader structural engineering community through future STRUCTURE magazine articles, webinars, social-media posts, and extensive content at the NCSEA Summit in Las Vegas in November. We hope the AI roadmap will define future short-term and long-term areas of study, topics for direct consumption, and education in future funded programs or initiatives. What are the main barriers to the wider adoption of AI in structural engineering, and how can these be addressed? How can we foster a culture of innovation and continual learning in the field to keep pace with AI advancements? And most importantly, what roles do structural engineering organizations and firms play in promoting AI integration in the field? These are the big questions the AI Grant Team is working to answer.
David vs. Goliath
When discussing the risk, impact, and opportunities associated with AI, it’s often perceived that larger firms with more resources are better positioned than small to mid-sized firms. This perception has been created by larger firms being on the bleeding edge of developing AI tools over the past 10-20 years. Subsequent presentations, magazine articles, and social-media posts reinforce this narrative; however it’s only half of the story. It’s important to think about the opportunities with AI in two categories: (1) AI tool development and (2) AI tool consumption.
AI tool development refers to the creation of new AI technologies and applications. This process can involve a significant investment in research and development, as well as access to resources such as data, personnel, and infrastructure. AI tool development for the structural engineering profession includes initiatives such as creating machine learning algorithms to better solve structural engineering problems, training algorithms on large datasets in order to enable them to make predictions or take actions based on new inputs, and integrating appropriate algorithms and models into existing third party tools (Revit, ETABS, etc). Most structural engineers and structural engineering firms will not be involved in developing these tools, but will need to understand how AI tools will impact their business and to decide how to consume them.
AI tool consumption refers to the use of existing AI technologies and applications within an organization. This may involve integrating AI tools into existing workflows or processes or using AI-powered services provided by third parties. AI tool consumption can provide organizations with a range of benefits, including increased efficiency, improved accuracy, and enhanced productivity. Effectively implementing and using AI tools does not require extensive resources, making small firms better positioned to adopt AI tools than large firms in many ways.
Agility: Small firms are often more agile and able to quickly adapt to new technologies and implement them into their workflows.
Flexibility: Small firms may be more flexible in terms of the types of projects they take on and the resources they devote to them. This can allow them to experiment with new AI technologies and applications without having to make a significant investment upfront.
Lower Overhead Costs: Small firms typically have lower overhead costs than large firms, which can make it easier for them to invest in new technologies such as AI.
Ability to Specialize: Small firms may be able to specialize in specific areas of AI, which can give them a competitive advantage over larger firms that may need to implement AI into workflows that support a more diverse set of services.
While large firms have more resources, the larger scale of operations and wider range of processes and workflows makes it significantly more challenging to implement change. As one large firm executive admitted, they have more tools available than they have deployed because they haven’t figured out how to successfully deploy the tools at scale. It’s not a technical problem—it’s a cultural problem. Changing the culture of a large, successful, engineering firm is not easy.
Conclusion
It is critical that our profession considers what products and services we provide as we absorb these new technologies into the profession. While they clearly can provide efficiency, accuracy, and productivity for our firms, how can they also help us add value, strengthen our relationships, and spend more time with our clients? How can we make room for these technologies in our business plans and operating models? We suspect it will be a smaller firm that is able to answer these questions and truly disrupt the industry. However, NCSEA hopes our inaugural ISE grant will support all firms—big and small—as they start on their journey. ■
About the Authors
Brian Petruzzi, PE, is current Treasurer of the NCSEA Board of Directors, and a Director on the NCSEA Foundation Board of Directors.
Emily Guglielmo, SE, PE, is a Principal at Martin / Martin, Past-President of the NCSEA Board of Directors, and the current President of the NCSEA Foundation Board of Directors.
Christopher Cerino, PE, is Vice President and Technical Director of Structural Engineering, Urbanism + Planning at STV, current Vice President of the NCSEA Board of Directors, and a Director on the NCSEA Foundation Board of Directors.