Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Construction

University of Illinois is establishing the National Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Construction. This initiative will lead to the first-of-its-kind institute for the application of AI in design, construction and operation of buildings and infrastructure systems. There is a compelling combination of complex problems in construction with open environments, multiple modalities and clear use-inspired objectives, where the solutions can be guided by carefully designed taxonomies and strong metrics for verifying success. But the set of problems that can be solved is currently constrained by a need for huge quantities of annotated data, so domain-independent AI research tends to concentrate on topics where known methods will succeed. Applying AI methods to construction problems will produce a seismic shift in AI research More than 40 industry partners from architecture, engineering, construction, owner, technology providers and venture capital investment firms will join researchers from the University of Illinois and Carnegie Mellon University in this multi-disciplinary effort to design the new institute through a series of planning workshops. The goal is to identify key areas for the highest impact of AI in design, construction and operation of the built environment. The team will also actively engage in the development of AI methods and tools, as well as entrepreneurship education, to bring these solutions to the market. A University of Illinois team has received grants and support from the National Science Foundation and the Discovery Partners Institute to plan the establishment of the National Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Construction.