AI Joins Construction Industry, Immediately Asks for a Union Break

AI

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AI is taking over in a race to find the future of construction.

Granite and Skanska unveil digital helpers nobody asked for but everyone’s pretending to understand.

Move over foremen, there’s a new know-it-all on the jobsite—and it doesn’t even drink coffee or yell at apprentices. That’s right, artificial intelligence has officially entered the construction world, and it’s here to answer your dumbest questions faster than you can say, “I swear I read the manual.”

Two heavy hitters, Granite Construction and Skanska, have decided it’s time to upgrade from clipboards and gut instinct to something more… digital.

Introducing their new AI tools: Asphalt Guru and Safety Sidekick, which sound like rejected Saturday morning cartoon characters but are, apparently, serious technological advancements.

AI Construction Asphalt Guru: Digital Dalai Lama of Driveways

Granite Construction, a company headquartered in Watsonville (aka The Asphalt Riviera), proudly introduced Asphalt Guru an AI-powered wisdom wizard designed to train paving crews using a smorgasbord of data including 900 pages of interviews, thousands of documents, and possibly the sacred scrolls of Bitumenia.

This thing is basically ChatGPT if it was raised by road crews and weaned on gravel.

So far, over 400 Granite employees have used the platform and asked it over 1,000 questions, ranging from:

• “What’s the perfect asphalt temp?”

• “Why won’t the roller operator wave back?”

• And the classic: “Can I pave over my ex’s house?”

Project Manager and part-time philosopher Daniel Mekis says:

“It’s an honor to be recognized for a tool that preserves the expertise of our paving professionals.”

In other words: This robot knows more than Bob from Lot B, and he’s been here since ‘79.

You can now access Asphalt Guru via mobile devices in the field, meaning there’s officially no escape from corporate learning—yes, even on the toilet.

Safety Sidekick: Your AI Mom in a Hardhat

Not to be outdone, Skanska a company founded in Sweden, land of IKEA and functional outerwear has rolled out Safety Sidekick, an AI-powered app that combines OSHA regulations, Skanska’s own safety manual, and every passive-aggressive email from your safety officer into one cheerful little interface.

It’s basically a pocket-sized, steel-toed Siri.

Designed to prevent “accidents” like “walking backwards into a trench while texting,” this tool keeps everyone from interns to site supervisors in line. If you so much as THINK about removing your hardhat, Safety Sidekick sends a strongly worded alert, a disapproving gif, and possibly a pigeon trained to slap you.

And that’s not all, folks Safety Sidekick is just one of a whole AI family called “Expert Sidekicks.” Apparently we’re only a few months away from:

• Lunchbox Sidekick: Predicts when your sandwich will be stolen.

• Porta-Potty Pal: Detects methane and broken dreams.

• Union Rep Bot 9000: Automatically negotiates 15-minute smoke breaks every 12 minutes.

C

hief Strategy Officer Anita Nelson said:

“These tools empower our people to turn data into actionable insights.”

Translation: We finally digitized common sense.

Are the Robots Taking Over? Not Yet, But They’re Watching…

The construction industry has officially joined the AI party late, sweaty, and slightly confused—but determined to pretend we were always tech-savvy. Most jobsite veterans still think “cloud computing” means a storm’s coming, but hey, progress!

To be clear: AI in construction isn’t replacing workers... yet. It’s just hanging around, learning everything you do, judging your rebar tie technique, and taking notes for its inevitable uprising.

Until then, we welcome our digital overlords. Just keep them away from the foreman's radio and the Friday BBQ.

Stay tuned to HardHatKings.com

We’ll keep you posted when the next construction robot learns how to drink Monster and swear like a real operator.