As winter sets in, we begin to look ahead towards a new year. We make plans and we also consider what’s ahead.

I always enjoy this “season of wonder”, as it gets me excited about possibilities and drives me to dream big. Inevitably, it reminds of the scene in “Aladdin” in which the genie – voiced by the hilarious Robin Williams – grants Aladdin three wishes when he discovers the magic lamp in the cave of wonders. The genie tells Aladdin he gets "three wishes, three. Uno, dos, tres, no substitutions, exchanges, or refunds, and ixnay on the wishing for more wishes."

This year, this same scene also makes me think about the emergence of AI and what lies ahead for this extraordinary technology. In 2023, AI burst onto the world stage with the emergence of ChatGPT. And there is no putting this genie back in the bottle. People, companies, and governments are all charging ahead to find creative uses for generative AI. The possibilities are mind-boggling.

We work in construction, an industry that has not historically been quick to adopt new technologies. But in the last few years, with the evolution of construction technology, this has begun to change. Our sector will benefit from the emergence of AI like so many others. So, if I were to look ahead to 2024 and make my three wishes on how this influential technology will shape our sector, what would those wishes include?

First, I’ll focus on what I know: the opportunity for AI is radically changing the world of construction scheduling. I work for ALICE Technologies, the company that created a category within the scheduling segment that we call “construction optioneering.” Powered by AI, ALICE can help general contractors and owners to create numerous potential schedule options and then optimize those schedules through its powerful “what if” analysis capabilities. This is an application of AI that can help those building anything from a bridge to a nuclear power plant to save significant time and money.

ALICE was originally created for companies that would start this optioneering process with a BIM model. But many general contractors and owners don’t yet use BIM – particularly in the U.S. My wish for 2024, therefore, is to see this AI-driven optimization magic extended to companies that create their first draft schedules using more traditional tools, such as Oracle’s Primavera 6. Serving this audience would significantly expand the number of general contractors and owners who could benefit from optioneering. With that greater scope, the construction industry could have a chance to finally shake its reputation for consistently delivering projects behind schedule and over budget.

And for my next wish? I hope for big progress with self-driving vehicles – specifically for AI-powered trucks that could bring materials to a job site and remove waste without the need for a human at the wheel. This year, we’ve seen more traction for self-driving cars. Tesla continues to innovate, while self-driving taxis have taken to the streets in cities like San Francisco – although not without challenges. But while companies like California-based TuSimple are beginning to test self-driving trucks, we’re in the early innings of this game. That said, the growth projections are enormous. According to data from Acumen Research and Consulting, the semi and fully autonomous truck market is expected to reach approximately $88 billion by 2027, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 10.1 percent between 2020 and 2027.

Recently, I spent a day on the job site with a general contractor that was building a section of the HS2 high-speed rail system in the UK. For me, just as impressive as the structure they were building was the tremendous amount of earth that they had to move each day – 20 huge trucks full of dirt, which they were transporting from one part of the site to another as they built this cut-and-cover tunnel for the project. “We move the equivalent of an Olympic swimming pool full of earth every day,” I was told.

Imagine the savings in labor and cost if this work could all be done by self-driving vehicles. And imagine the efficiencies if the trucks that brought materials like concrete and cement to the site and hauled away waste were all also self-propelled. Then, go one step further and picture if the scheduling of these “lorry” trips was orchestrated by the kind of AI-driven scheduling software that I described earlier, ensuring that we maximized the use of the assets.

This may feel like science fiction, but it’s not. Companies like Built Robotics are already transforming heavy construction equipment into autonomous robots used to build solar farms more efficiently. My wish for self-propelled trucks is not so far-fetched, and I’m optimistic that we’ll see major innovation in this sector in 2024.

And how to use my last wish? I would look beyond the construction of these assets and wish for AI to run these structures when complete. For example, think about a 100-story skyscraper. The costs associated with heating and cooling such a building are mind-blowing. But imagine if you deployed an AI system to run the show. Based on data that it would receive from sensors distributed throughout the structure, the AI would determine the optimal way to manage the heating and cooling, an approach that would meet occupants’ requirements while also optimizing for costs.

The world continues to build such structures at a tremendous pace – and they use a tremendous amount of energy. In fact, according to Bill Gates, the world will build an entire New York City every month for the next 40 years. Optimizing the energy usage in these buildings via AI could make a big difference in the carbon footprint caused by their operation.

There are those who worry deeply about the rise of AI. They wring their hands and vent their concerns in the popular press, and they’ve received a lot of attention in this past year. I’m not naive, and I know that the blossoming of AI will disrupt industries, change the employment landscape, and challenge privacy. But at my core, I’m an optimist. And now that AI has broken its historical shackles, I’m focused on the good it can do – particularly in a sector like construction that has traditionally been a tech laggard. This time, we can lead. While my wishes for 2024 may seem unattainable to some, I think that instead, they are closer than many may understand.

Phil Carpenter joined ALICE with 30 years of strategic marketing and communications experience. He built the marketing function from the ground up at multiple high-growth startups, such as Yalo, Latin America’s leading conversational commerce company, and SideStep, which created the travel search engine category and was purchased by Kayak. Carpenter also served as senior partner for Allison+Partners, the global marketing services agency, where he ran the firm’s six west coast offices. In addition, he co-founded Whiskey Creek Properties, a real estate development company that builds multi-family rental properties in Phoenix, Arizona. At ALICE, Carpenter is responsible for driving global marketing and communications, including growth marketing, product marketing, event marketing, and corporate communications. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Stanford University and Master of Business Administration from Harvard University.