Perspectives on artificial intelligence in the construction industry

Based on the expectation of artificial intelligence (Al) the authors established in 1988 an umbrella for research in this area in the construction industry, named the Expert Systems Lab. This paper describes 14 research projects produced since then. For each project a short description is given and the stage and value rating given by industry is reported. It will be seen that the projects generally have been rated very attractive by industry. On the other hand, it is also reported that none of the systems have been implemented in real life. This depressing observation is the main motivation for the paper and possible reasons for the lack of implementation are examined. It is concluded that stand-alone systems as normally produced are out of harmony with industry, and main emphasis for Al should on the contrary be focused on problems concerning integration, knowledge and information management.