Let’s talk about AI, and yes, I mean artificial intelligence.

I’m sure you have been hearing all the buzz with ChatGPT and how AI is quickly evolving around us, but are you going to choose to embrace it?

That’s what I want to discuss with this week's newsletter.

And before we continue, if you’re worried about any potential AI becoming sentient, I’ll tell you that’s not much of a concern right now. I think we should welcome AI and learn to adopt it into our workflows to become more efficient.

How can AI Benefit Construction?

If you’ve been in construction for some time, you know that there are quite a few mundane tasks. Things you wish you just had an assistant take care of because it doesn’t feel like it’s worth your time.

Well, now we have AI that is capable of having conversations, provide you with technical information, and even being that assistant.

The tricky part is you can’t just provide it with any request. It needs to be very thought out and specific or you’ll get an answer you might not want.

I have played around with it for some time and have been trying to think of different ways that it can assist me.

For one, when it comes to writing a purchase order, you should follow a standard format for each item that you’re buying. Which means, your prompt should provide a template that you want the AI to use.

Next, you can begin providing the information it should include and the AI will take care of the rest. There have been a few purchase orders I’ve worked on where this would’ve come in handy.

If it’s still a bit unclear, let me give you a specific example.

I ran this through ChatGPT to give you an idea of what you could expect.

Here’s the example:

Me: I want to create a purchase order. I will provide you the format to follow and then give you the data which will go into the given template. Write out each item with the given format for each piece of data that I give. Do you understand?

AI: Yes, I understand that you want to create a purchase order using a specific format, and you will provide the necessary data for each item in the template. I'm here to assist you with that. Please provide the format and the data, and I'll help you write out each item accordingly.

Me: Here's the format.

Equipment Tag:

Model #:

CFM:

Cooling Capacity:

Static Pressure:

Flow Rate:

Coil Connection Side:

AI: Thank you for providing the additional information. To create the purchase order, please provide the specific data for each item in the given format. Once you provide the data, I will include it in the template accordingly.

Me: Equipment Tags: DOAS-101, DOAS-201

Model #: 42BHE, 42BHE

CFM: 1000, 900

Cooling Capacity: 39,000, 37,700

Static Pressure: 0.5", 0.5"

Flow Rate: 4 GPM, 4 GPM

Coil Connection Side: Right, Left

AI: Thank you for providing the data. I will now incorporate it into the template for each item:

Purchase Order:

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Equipment Tag: DOAS-101

Model #: 42BHE

CFM: 1000

Cooling Capacity: 39,000

Static Pressure: 0.5"

Flow Rate: 4 GPM

Coil Connection Side: Right

Equipment Tag: DOAS-201

Model #: 42BHE

CFM: 900

Cooling Capacity: 37,700

Static Pressure: 0.5"

Flow Rate: 4 GPM

Coil Connection Side: Left

Please review the purchase order and let me know if any modifications or additions are needed.​
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This is a pretty basic level example, but after you’ve done it once, you can use this as a prompt template to create POs in the future. I think this is one thing that I will adopt for my workflow.

When you’re writing out about 15 different items to include in a purchase order, it’s easy to make a typo. Using AI can save you some time and help to eliminate errors.

Concerns With AI

While AI has some great potential for our industry, there’s still kinks that need to be worked out. I wouldn’t allow AI to have full reign of your computer for security purposes.

It has its time and place and can be a valuable tool if you understand how to use it. I wouldn’t go beyond using the AI tool from the web browser.

Cyber security is something that all industries need to consider. Talking with some of the IT guys in my company has given me insight into the potential dangers of AI.

That’s why I say don’t give AI full access to your computer, you don’t know what could potentially happen.

My intention here is not to scare you away from AI but rather make sure you’re informed. It’s a powerful tool when used appropriately.

Conclusion

I hope you got to learn a bit of what AI can potential do for our industry. I will continue to think of ways that I can integrate it into my workflow to make my job easier.

The example that I provided earlier is definitely one method that I will build upon and fine tune over time.

Let me know what you think about AI.

Do you welcome it or are you worried we’re on the path to the next Skynet (just kidding)?

Thank you,

Alex

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