The International Association for Automation and Robotics in Construction
Publications / CCC 2025 - Zadar, Croatia
INTEGRATING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE INTO CONSTRUCTION: CHALLENGES, BENEFITS, AND STRATEGIES
The construction industry, despite being one of the largest contributors to the global economy, is one of the least digitized industries. The application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers a transformative opportunity to change the industry to be more efficient, safe, and cost-effective. This study analyses the current situation of AI adoption in construction, assessing 354 AI use-cases, 180 benefits, and 173 challenges identified by systematically reviewing 85 research articles from 2019 to 2024 obtained from Google Scholar and Science Direct databases. The identified use-cases, benefits, and challenges are categorized in ten, eleven, and six themes respectively based on their definition to provide systematic insight into the findings and facilitate better understanding by the readers. The identified Key AI application categories are safety monitoring, design automation, operational efficiency, and sustainability improvements. The most significant benefit categories identified by the analysis are improving operational efficiency, safety and risk management, and quality management. Additionally, the study also identifies the most salient categories for the identified challenges towards the use of AI as data scarcity, high implementation costs, lack of regulatory frameworks, and workforce training gaps. To overcome these challenges, the study suggests an eight-step AI adoption framework as a step-by-step pragmatic guideline for construction organizations for the successful implementation of AI, guiding them through 1) readiness assessment, 2) use-case identification, 3) data strategy development, 4) AI tool selection, 5) pilot testing, 6) workforce training, 7) continuous monitoring, and 8) scaling AI solutions. Future research should focus on validating the framework through real-world case studies, exploring industry-specific AI solutions, and developing standardized AI regulatory policies. By adopting AI systematically, the construction industry can transform into a data-driven, efficient, and innovative future, improving its long-term competitiveness and technological advancements.