AI to make us all redundant

Perhaps AI will solve all the world's problems . . but I can't escape looking at AI & robotics through my Battlestar Galactica lens.
 
The cost of replacing a plasterer with a plastering robot, (aside from the fact it would save a fortune in cups of tea), is currently likely to be very prohibitive.
Wrong thinking I'm afraid. With new house design and off-site construction methods, the need for plasterers, brick and block layers, on-site carpenters, etc will be eliminated, just as lamp-lighters and night-spoil collectors no longer exist as jobs.
 
Wrong thinking I'm afraid. With new house design and off-site construction methods, the need for plasterers, brick and block layers, on-site carpenters, etc will be eliminated, just as lamp-lighters and night-spoil collectors no longer exist as jobs.
Off site construction was there before, they were called Ro Fab houses back in the 70s. Dreadful builds.

Agree with block layers but what you will see is a change in skills, blocklayers will become "assembly men" at the relevant site. Carpenters will move to working in the pre-fab factories etc.

Same as engine mechanics, potentially their skill set will disappear into the ether. However how much of that is down to AI?
 
Agree with block layers but what you will see is a change in skills, blocklayers will become "assembly men" at the relevant site. Carpenters will move to working in the pre-fab factories etc.
Look at the staffing involved in operations like Huff House, most of the timber manipulation is fully automated. They manufacture and install around 200 houses a year with a total staff of just over 400. So some people who would have become block layers may now become less skilled installers and some of those carpenters will become less skilled factory operators, the majority will need to find other sources of employment.
 
Off site construction was there before, they were called Ro Fab houses back in the 70s. Dreadful builds.
Yes, cars were much worse in the 70's, as were planes and shoes and batteries and washing machines and robots and computers and windmills and just about every other manufactured good.
Technology and material science has moved on. The construction sector hasn't kept up.
 
Technology and material science has moved on. The construction sector hasn't kept up.
I disagree. The Irish construction industry hasn't kept up, if anything it is going from bad to worse quality-wise and in every other respect (refer to posts in the main fora in AAM for horror stories from Irish new-build buyers). New children's hospital anyone?

Organisations like Huf Haus have been advancing the state-of-the-art consistently for the last 100+ years. Their first self-learning house, designed and built in cooperation with IBM, was opened in 2018, integrating software engineering into construction and everyday living.

BTW without early versions of AI, safe, self-managed, complex elevator systems in high-rise buildings would not have been possible in the middle of the 20th century. It was then viewed as an enabling technology, making the impossible possible. See Hannah Fry https://www.sky.com/watch/title/ser...ac51-c5b4f7accdc6/episodes/season-2/episode-6. Brilliant series BTW.
 
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I disagree. The Irish construction industry hasn't kept up, if anything it is going from bad to worse quality-wise and in every other respect (refer to posts in the main fora in AAM for horror stories from Irish new-build buyers). New children's hospital anyone?

Organisations like Huf Haus have been advancing the state-of-the-art consistently for the last 100+ years. Their first self-learning house, designed and built in cooperation with IBM, was opened in 2018, integrating software engineering into construction and everyday living.

BTW without early versions of AI, safe, self-managed, complex elevator systems in high-rise buildings would not have been possible in the middle of the 20th century. It was then viewed as an enabling technology, making the impossible possible. See Hannah Fry https://www.sky.com/watch/title/ser...ac51-c5b4f7accdc6/episodes/season-2/episode-6. Brilliant series BTW.
Going off track but that hannah fry programme is always interesting
 
A rather bizarre use of AI here...

Ireland AM woke up the nation this morning (14 December) with what it dubbed a "world-first AI-inspired show". Ahead of its airing, Virgin Media Ireland explained that the special episode was "shaped entirely by input from ChatGPT and Google Bard", two of the world’s most popular AI content generation platforms.

 
head of its airing, Virgin Media Ireland explained that the special episode was "shaped entirely by input from ChatGPT and Google Bard"
Except that's not possible as neither tool creates content without direction and user input.
 
Are you suggesting that the cost overruns there are down to poor quality workmanship or outdated construction practices?
Yes, cost and delivery date overruns are evidence of poor workmanship by the designers, planners, controllers, "managers", and no doubt others. There were also doubts and a lack of clarity about what was integral to the project and not. Five or six operating theatres, the construction, fit out and kitting of same were not included in the original plans if I remember correctly. A shambolic approach from day one.
 
Yes, cost and delivery date overruns are evidence of poor workmanship by the designers, planners, controllers, "managers", and no doubt others.
Yes, others, so let's not conflate thees issues with construction practices and poor procurement. You don't blame a builder when the client keeps changing their mind on the fundamentals of a house they're building. Most of the decision makers do not work in the construction sector.
 
Yes, cost and delivery date overruns are evidence of poor workmanship by the designers, planners, controllers, "managers", and no doubt others.
Integral to construction and construction practices IMO as is procurement of skills, labour, machinery, and materials.
 
Integral to construction and construction practices IMO as is procurement of skills, labour, machinery, and materials.
No, thankfully no one in the HSE is dictating construction practices, it's a big enough mess without that! No serious construction contractor would take on a project where a novice client insisted on such control.

In a previous role my wife interacted with some of those within the HSE who were managing the big construction projects, they knew very little about the building requirements to house specialised medical services and next to nothing about construction practices. On one project, they brought her and some of her coleagues in just at the point some very expensive imaging machinery arrived on site from Germany, it was only then those managing the project realised they would have to knock down quite a bit of the new build to move the machinery into place.
 
My own experience of dealing with the HSE as an IT services supplier is that they are utterly clueless. They pay a fortune for 3rd party management consultants and then brainlessly follow their recommendations without having the skills, ability, knowledge, freedom or courage to challenge those recommendations. On occassions, you get someone competent but they are so frustrated with dealing with the numpties and unions that I feel sorry for them.

I would expect, based on my experience, that the bulk of the changes in the NCH were done to poor specs and requirements in the first place, badly written and unclear contracts and inept project management.

Not saying the builders are blameless either BTW, enough badly built appartment blocks and roads in this country as proof of that but a lot is a mess of the HSE's own making
 
They pay a fortune for 3rd party management consultants and then brainlessly follow their recommendations without having the skills, ability, knowledge, freedom or courage to challenge those recommendations.
Yep, if you don't know what you're doing, pay one of the big consultancies to come in and do it for you. Then, before things go pear shaped get your self a nice promotion based on the amazing job you're doing according to measures you've defined.
 
Yep, if you don't know what you're doing, pay one of the big consultancies to come in and do it for you. Then, before things go pear shaped get your self a nice promotion based on the amazing job you're doing according to measures you've defined.
And conversely, if the project goes horribly wrong, you can shrug your shoulders and say you took your direction from the experts!
 
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