The future of architecture, engineering and consultancies: from data as a by-product to a data-driven industry – with Tim Wark
AECOM Global Artificial Intelligence Lead Tim Wark is passionate about helping organisations and individuals become more creative and productive and he thinks the opportunities artificial intelligence (AI) presents are worth getting excited about.
“Organisations will become more relational and strategic and shift the focus to going on the journey with their clients. It gets exciting when you look at it through this lens.”
With over 25 years’ experience in digital innovation in public and private sectors, including digital strategy, product management and commercialisation, you’ll want to be at Tim’s keynote session at Futurespace 2024 this October in Christchurch where he will get you enthused about what the AI disruption ahead means for the sector.
We asked Tim about the impact AI will have on the sector and the opportunities that will result.
What does the inevitable disruption accompanying AI mean for the sector’s future and jobs, including day-to-day direction?
"There’s no doubt we’re in a wave of change and, like any disruption, this includes productivity disruption. There’s a lot of hype but also real change is definitely happening. Following the introduction of ChatGPT, the public suddenly became aware of where AI was up to and, simultaneously, the big tech stepped up to the next level in terms of the investment occurring.
"There’s no doubt that the technology is continuing to shift paths almost monthly, but I think we’re still early in understanding what it means regarding how it’ll change the workforce, the way we work and, ultimately, our business and operating models.
"In terms of architecture, engineering and consultancies (AEC), there’s a lot that’s common to all knowledge or professional services organisations – we’re seeing the next stage of the democratisation of knowledge. We’ve been on this path for decades and there’s no doubt that we’re stepping it up to the next level. It’ll take time to see what this will look like, especially for these organisations. It will undoubtedly shift the tasks and jobs we have today to different ones. There will be many things that we do today that are increasingly automated.
"But there are also things that are specific to AEC, which is essentially a very siloed sector if you think about the life cycle from concept design to detailed design, construction and operations. We’ve been starting to automate the design life cycle for a while but we’re now becoming aware of data insights that you can get over the entire life cycle of a project, such as those that help with planning, forecasting and asset management.
"We’re moving towards a much more data-centric sector; it is less siloed. It's more about the value we get from data over the life cycle of a project, and this will change the way we manage programs and big projects, and how we design the underpinning assets.
"Many organisations still have very time and materials-based contracting models. I think we’ll see a shift to more lump sum, value-based contracting and that large organisations will use this as an opportunity to think about how they manage data and become a data-first organisation.
"I don’t think anyone knows the answer yet about what the jobs we’ll do in the future will look like, but we’ll almost certainly see a shift to more advisory, strategic-type roles around the relationships that design consultants have with their end clients. They’ll go on the journey with them – the outcome they want to achieve and how they bring about that big picture and detailed view, rather than just a transactional relationship at various points of the project lifecycle."
Should we be excited about this change because it offers a more values-based relationship?
"Yes. Many of the current design services are becoming commoditised, which drives the value to a higher level. I think having more advisory, strategic relationships is why we’re shifting towards managing bigger and more complex programmes.
"For example, you move from designing a bridge for a Department of Transport to helping the organisation think about how it manages all its assets – its strategy for managing its current assets and planning for its entire asset strategy in the future. I think this is where we’re heading."
How do we overcome any fear and uncertainty we may have about AI? How will you encourage the Futurespace 2024 audience to embrace it?
"If you look at the technology shifts and disruption over the last few decades, it’s created a lot of busy work. Some people like this but I think this latest AI wave gets us back to being more human – I think it’ll put the focus on relationships and creativity, and enable us to more easily access the best of knowledge and frameworks for effective decision making. It’ll offer everyone the opportunity to work more productively and do higher value work.
"Organisations will become more relational and strategic and go on the journey with their clients. It is exciting when looked at through this lens. Yes, any change brings uncertainty, and fear often accompanies this, but I think we’re at the wave of a new ability to be creative and productive and we encourage everyone to think about what their future job will look like rather than protect and hold what they do now.
"If you look back through history, for example, to the Industrial Revolution and what took place to protect the manual workforce, I don’t think anyone can deny the productivity benefits that came with changing to automation much of what was manual labour then, and I think the same will happen here. It’ll affect everyone – from people in general administrative roles to those in deep, technical or senior leadership roles. It is a mindset shift, and it will enable people to do more interesting, different work.
"At the end of the day, these AI models are learning from humans’ creativity and thinking. Computers can now read and write, which means they can learn alongside us, but they’re still learning from us all the time."