b'Agentic AI is the new tech buzzword. HeresBarry Mostert, tech giant Oracles senior director of artificial what builders need to know.intelligence and analytics, wrote in a Feb. 10 blog post that agentic AI puts the construction industry on the brink of a transformative leap. AI agents could help builders improve safety, optimize their costs and proactively mitigate risk, Mostert claimed. Three months into 2025, the artificial intelligence arms race continues for builders. Large contractors, such asPatrick Murphy, the CEO of estimating and takeoff software London-based Balfour Beatty and Swedish build- creator Togal.AI, said that an agentic AI chatbot could oper-er Skanska, are developing their own AI-based tools toate much like an employee. aid their construction processes. Other builders use tech solutions that come from ven- For example, instead of asking an AI to write a few plans dors. Marietta, Georgia-based Cork Howard, for exam- and then reviewing them yourself, you could tell an agentic ple, uses Billy the Bot, named and created by MountainAI to generate multiple options, analyze all the data, select View, California-based software firm Stampli. With thethe best one, and even propose new ideas based on current tech, the team is able to cut down on the time, effort andmarket trends, Murphy said. Then, itcould check back in focus necessary to track the litany of invoices that the48 hours with a full report. firm receives and needs to process on any given day. Worth the hype? Its not just finance, eitherAI and its uses were the talk of the expo at Engineering News-Records Future- Although some analysts expect businesses to quickly reap Tech conference in 2024, where builders discussed howthe rewards from AI agents, others are expressing caution, they used it to check contracts for compliance and in- specifically regarding security concerns, CIO Dive reported crease jobsite safety.in January. Now, the next iteration of AI is knocking on the con- Even though it might be overhyped in the first year, were struction industrys dooragentic AI. A type of artificialgoing to be seeing some interesting results this year and also intelligence that tech giant Nvidia claimed in a Jan. 6probably some epic failures, Vladimir Lukic, global leader blog post will act as a knowledge robot, the tech holdsof Boston Consulting Groups Technology and Digital Ad-the promise to help companies across industries, not justvantage practice, told CIO Dive. builders, automate their work. But whether the buzz around it is just hype or has real potential can be difficultSenthil Kumar, the chief technology officer for Slate Tech-for builders to parse as they consider its uses in theirnologies, a contech firm that creates AI tech for the real es-day-to-day work.tate, building and investment industries, is taking a more measured approach. Kumar noted that AI in construction is What is agentic AI?full of failed full-automation promises, but that the tech Agentic AI is an evolution of generative AIits stillcould help contractors who carefully implement it get a let trained on specific data sets, and users can still interactup on their peers.with it via a chat or prompt. However, what sets the tech aside is its ability to act autonomously.Kumar said that agentic AI could, for example, help builders manage their schedules, manage risk and compliance, opti-Agentic AI represents the next wave in the evolution ofmize how resources are used and anticipate supply chain generative AI. It enables applications to move beyonddisruptions. But knowing that it isnt a technological cure-all simple chatbot interactions to tackle complex, multi-stepis important. problems through sophisticated reasoning and plan-ning, Nvidia wrote.There is of course no magical overnight transformation and if one is expected, people will be disappointed, Kumar told In other words, agentic AI takes that answer a step fur- Construction Dive via email. Those integrating this AI stra-ther. tegically, will gain a significant competitive edge. Indeed, other experts are far from certain of agentic AIs potential, For example, a builder might ask a generative AI bot toand outright doubtful of its capabilities at present. figure out how much money it owed to a specific con-crete subcontractor in 2024. The bot would answer thatWe conducted a thorough review of AI agents in produc-query based on that single interaction.tion, analyzing their goals, operational mechanisms, and the extent of their autonomous behavior, Craig Le Clair, princi-By contrast, agentic AI could create a plan around thepal analyst at Cambridge, Massachusetts-based market re-bills and invoices autonomously, with the human takingsearch firm Forrester, told CIO Dive in an email. Basically, action.most agents are far from agentic. This is the future and does not yet exist.(continued on page 9) 8'