Harnessing the Potential of AI in Structural Engineering

I am obsessed with all things technology and innovation. The grant recipients include a small group of structural engineers and technology leaders meeting regularly to strategize how AI is impacting the profession. We are asking ourselves, ‘How do we build the practice for the future?’ AI is reshaping industries everywhere. Our focus is on how it will transform the building industry.

Yes. We’ve delivered several presentations, publications, and a roadmap for the profession. Our work is high level—focusing on learning, awareness, and taking those initial steps forward. Everything we have delivered so far is a snapshot in time. My recent co-byline in Structure magazine was essentially a status update.

Our big campaign is sharing information about AI’s potential impact with colleagues through presentations and publications. The program explored how structural engineers are using AI to drive more efficient outcomes and think strategically about how AI is shaping the discipline. We highlighted ways AI can accelerate conceptual design, advance decision-making, enhance design customization, and incorporate sustainability into the design process. The goal was to spark conversations about practical applications of AI.

Certainly, some of the more administrative tasks are already easier, such as summarizing meeting notes, writing reports, and researching technical topics. Yet I have this pie-in-the-sky idea that someday I will have an AI agent that talks to my colleagues’ AI agents to coordinate information in the background, allowing us to hit the ground running at project kick-off. The goal would be less meeting time, more creative time to design the best buildings.

Starting with responsible charge: nothing has changed. The engineer of record is still responsible for the design, stamping the drawings, and doing the same quality-assurance checks. In terms of ethics, though, we must be cognizant of inherent data bias that disproportionately favors certain materials, construction methods, contractors, or stakeholders. We also want to make sure AI tools are aligned with our vision in terms of safety, sustainability, resilience, and low-embodied carbon. As with any new tool, we need to apply the same ethical principles that reflect our clients’ mission and best interest—and our professional values.

Absolutely. When I talk with engineering faculty, they confirm that the basic skills they teach students are as important as ever—maybe more so. Critical thinking is what allows us to check models, validate outputs, and develop new approaches. Today, ChatGPT can design a beam as well as a new graduate. But it still takes experience to vet that design and understand how that beam fits into the bigger picture of a building. Critical thinking isn’t going away—it’s being tested in new ways as AI advances.

My goal is to design better, more inspiring buildings. I see AI getting to a point where it is less about churning information and more about innovation, helping us explore new materials and processes that enable us to build things we can’t yet imagine. It is a matter of harnessing that potential and building on it. I believe the future is bright, and that AI will help us deliver truly inspirational buildings.