A new report predicts that the global market for artificial intelligence in construction will experience significant growth in the next decade. The analysis by Research Dive reports that the market will grow by 34.1% by 2031 fuelled by AI-driven solutions and services, both on-site and remote.

According to the report, the implementation of artificial intelligence in the construction sector will be driven by a desire to improve worker safety on building sites and lessen health risks in the construction industry. The report cites data from OSHA that since 2020, “one in five worker deaths per year were recorded from the construction sector.” Research Dive, therefore, expects that the safety infrastructure on construction sites, such as cameras, sensors, and IoT devices detecting construction activity, will serve as foundations for increased integration of AI.

Advances in AI on the construction site will come in the form of both solutions and services, according to the report. Among the AI solutions expected to dominate the market in the coming decade are applications to support supply chain management, project planning, and risk management. Meanwhile, AI services expected to dominate include companies that will monitor interactions between personnel, equipment, and materials in real-time to identify safety hazards, design flaws, or productivity programs. Such advances will also lead to an increased demand for worker training services, the report notes.

The report estimates that while all global regions will see a surge in the adoption of AI in construction, North America will continue to hold the highest market size. A large population base with high purchasing power, strong investment in automation, and government initiatives in AI in the construction sector will all contribute to the region’s dominance.

Despite the expected growth of AI in construction, the report warns that a lack of skilled labor may be limiting such advances. “The work that needs to be done in the construction industry with the aid of artificial intelligence requires both technical and domain knowledge to produce the desired results,” the report notes. “If the worker does not have a solid understanding of it, the entire project prediction and off-site construction work fail, which can result in a significant loss for the business and subject the business to a number of project-related challenges. This factor restrains the market growth.”

The report also suggests that the market size will be constrained by the cost of integrating AI systems in construction. With robotics and autonomous systems expensive to acquire and maintain, the report notes that only large businesses will be able to afford the systems’ adoption.

The report’s publication comes at a time of several advances in autonomous construction. Last month, a Pennsylvania company launched an autonomous construction robot to reduce rebar installation times, while a San Francisco company announced the development of the “world’s first fully autonomous solar piling system.”

Last month, meanwhile, Boston Dynamics released a new video of their humanoid robot Atlas assisting on a mock construction site.