Will AI really change the crane industry?

A render created by artificial intelligence (AI) illustrating advanced digital twin technology. (Image: Adobe Stock)

For the past few years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been a buzzword that’s impossible to ignore.

With new AI-powered tools and systems emerging every day, there’s been widespread talk about how AI will revolutionise the construction industry. The conversation has been continuously gaining momentum, as industry leaders explore AI’s potential to improve productivity and safety on job sites.

But is the excitement surrounding AI in lifting work truly justified? A recent report from Oxford Economics suggests that we might be getting ahead of ourselves when it comes to AI’s transformative power in the construction industry.

The reality of AI in construction

Oxford Economics recently investigated the impact of generative AI (GenAI) on various sectors. GenAI, which can generate text, images, and even audio, is expected to boost productivity and contribute to economic growth over time. However, these benefits won’t be evenly distributed across industries. Some sectors will see more significant gains than others.

When it comes to construction, the impact of GenAI might be more limited. Construction is an industry built on physical labour and real-world operations, whereas AI shines in environments where it can automate cognitive tasks, such as data analysis and administrative work.

As a result, while AI has the potential to improve efficiency, it’s unlikely to drive huge productivity leaps in the crane sector in the same way it might in fields like pharmaceuticals or financial services.

Why construction faces challenges with GenAI

“The reality is that the vast majority of tasks done by people in construction are out in the real world where GenAI lacks the ability to go out and touch and move things,” said Nico Palesch, a senior economist at Oxford Economics and one of the authors of the report.

“New tech might help on the margin, but it’s not the same as the wholesale takeover of tasks done by people who sit in front of computers all day. GenAI can already automate much more in the virtual world,” he added.

This is why the construction industry ranks low on the list of sectors likely to benefit from AI advancements. AI excels when it automates repetitive, cognitive tasks—tasks that make up a small fraction of the work done by people in the crane industry.

Incorporating sectoral adoption rates moves information to the top of the rankings (Source: Oxford Economics/US Census Bureau)

AI’s role in office and managerial tasks

While AI may not significantly impact manual crane operations, its influence will likely be more pronounced in office and managerial roles within the industry. For example, AI could help project managers optimise scheduling, budgeting, and risk assessments, improving decision-making on large projects. However, this is a far cry from the wholesale automation of construction tasks, where hands-on work remains essential.

Emerging AI technologies could also offer benefits by analysing production processes or supporting factory builds, though these applications are still in the early stages. AI-driven robots with improved visual recognition capabilities may also assist in specific tasks, like material handling or equipment maintenance, offering some productivity boosts, albeit on a smaller scale.

Harder-to-automate jobs in construction make up >70% of sectoral employment (Source: Oxford Economics/BEA)

New opportunities in data centre construction

One area where AI is likely to drive growth is in the construction of data centres. As AI models become more complex, they require substantial computational power, leading to an increased demand for data centres. While this may not directly impact crane operators, it could present new opportunities for the sector, especially in building the infrastructure that powers AI-driven technologies.

The authors of the report recognised this as an important source of new work. “We expect that the decades-long trend toward increasing data centre construction will only accelerate in the coming years as GenAI adoption picks up. This will be accompanied by a buildout of energy infrastructure: data centres are power-hungry, and new electricity-generating infrastructure will be needed to power them,” the authors said.

The report tempered this forecast by highlighting the fact that the activity associated with the expansion of data centres will still only be a relatively small share of overall construction activity, however.

“In the US, for example, in 2023 data centre construction was only 2 % of the size of total nominal residential construction, a drop in the bucket which, as our latest US construction forecasts show, is not expected to fundamentally shift over the coming years,” it concluded.

A cautious outlook for AI in crane operations

In summary, while AI is making waves in the construction industry, its impact on crane operations and physical construction tasks may be more limited than some have predicted. Most of the work in the crane industry remains hands-on and will likely be less affected by AI advancements than industries where office-based tasks dominate.

That said, AI still offers potential benefits, especially in project management and back-office operations. Crane operators and other site-based workers should stay informed about these changes, but it’s essential to remain realistic about the immediate impact AI will have on hands-on tasks.

While AI may not take over the industry entirely, it could help streamline certain processes and offer new opportunities in related sectors like data centre construction and energy infrastructure.