RIYADH: Artificial intelligence could drive a new wave of growth in Saudi Arabia’s construction sector by increasing capacity, analyzing fragmented project data and helping engineers focus on higher-value decisions, according to Autodesk’s head of construction and manufacturing for the Middle East and Africa.
Speaking to Arab News on the sidelines of the Shaping Mega Projects Summit in Riyadh, Naji Atallah said AI is moving beyond simply automating existing processes and could change how major projects are designed, built and delivered.
“I think one of the big things about AI, like any new big technology, is that it has a positive impact on what’s happening. One of the things is by unlocking capacity,” Atallah said.
“So, I think AI will drive a new wave of growth for construction in the Kingdom.”
Atallah spoke during a fireside chat titled “Building Smarter: How Technology and AI Can Turn Saudi Arabia’s Mega Project Vision into Value” at the three-day summit, organized by Middle East Economic Digest from Sept. 28-30.
The event brought together developers, contractors, consultants, government stakeholders and technology providers as Saudi Arabia’s major projects move from planning and design toward procurement, construction and delivery.
Atallah identified three major areas where AI can create value in construction, beginning with automation.
While automating repetitive tasks may be the most straightforward application, he said it could have a significant effect on productivity by allowing professionals to spend more time on decisions that require human judgment.
“This is probably the lowest hanging fruit, but it is very impactful,” Atallah said.
“When AI can do that is to remove the low value or the repetitive work so people can focus on what they do best.”
Rather than simply replacing existing roles, Atallah said AI will also change the nature of work across construction projects.
“It will also change a lot of jobs, so it will redefine what individuals do on a project,” he said.
For designers and engineers, this could mean less time spent on repetitive processes and more time evaluating options and advancing projects.
“Designers and engineers can focus on what they do best, which is making decisions, deciding on trade offs and advancing the project,” Atallah said.
The second area is AI’s ability to analyze large volumes of information.
Construction projects generate significant amounts of data, but that information is often stored across separate systems and organizations, making it difficult to connect and analyze.
“Construction is known for its creation of vast amounts of data. That data is not always structured. That data is fragmented across silos and it's not always connected,” Atallah said.
AI could help identify patterns across those datasets and surface insights that may otherwise be difficult to detect.
Atallah gave the example of a Saudi project benefiting from information gathered from a similar project elsewhere in the world, particularly where conditions such as weather and materials are comparable.
“So, AI can link and can surface the insight from that project and guide people delivering the projects in the Kingdom here around them,” he said.
The third area is augmenting human capabilities through intelligent design tools.
Atallah said engineers have traditionally used software such as computer-aided design, or CAD, by manually directing processes within the system. The development of AI-enabled design environments could create a different relationship between professionals and their tools.
“Traditionally, as designers and engineers, we consumed non-intelligent tools,” he said.
“As things progress, engineers will partner with AI built in those CAD environments and drive outcomes.”
That shift comes as Saudi Arabia manages an unprecedented construction workload across infrastructure, housing, tourism, entertainment and urban development.
According to MEED, around $130 billion worth of giga-project contracts have already been awarded, while close to $200 billion are moving through the market.
The scale of the pipeline is also increasing pressure on the sector to improve productivity, build capacity and manage increasingly complex projects.
For Autodesk, Atallah said forums such as Shaping Mega Projects provide an opportunity for the construction community to address that challenge collectively.
“We are a repeat attendee and sponsor of the event, and it’s great to see all the construction community and the Kingdom get together and talk and discuss on how can we deliver more to the demand that we see across the Kingdom,” he said.
As Vision 2030 projects move deeper into execution, Atallah’s comments point to a broader role for AI in the sector: Not simply automating individual tasks, but connecting information, supporting decision-making and helping construction professionals manage the scale of development taking place across the Kingdom.
