Can Artificial Intelligence be a Critical Success Factor of Construction Projects? Practitioner perspectives

Abstract

The construction sector has not been altogether successful in adopting automated systems. Related research on artificial intelligence has mainly been confined to the development of software models for a specific subset of construction work. This study aims to identify whether artificial intelligence is a potential critical success factor for construction project success. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using content analysis. The interviewees were selected on the basis of convenience and included highly experienced project managers from the global community with expertise in project management working on large construction projects. Our research shows that senior project managers perceive artificial intelligence as different from information technology and advanced project management software. Major drawbacks of artificial intelligence were found to be (i) lack of soft skills, (ii) lack of intelligence to interpret things in various ways like human beings, and (iii) lack of human relationship capabilities, including the ways people manage projects. The interviewees believe that artificial intelligence is still years away from becoming self-aware. This study improves the understanding of artificial intelligence as a success factor for construction projects and provides future directions for research in this field.

Keywords

• artificial intelligence
• construction projects
• critical success factors
• project success