Building was one of man’s earliest skills. Thousands of years later, it’s still essential to life, but the construction industry is complex, with many factors influencing it. However, technology is simplifying and optimizing processes, specifically with AI. That’s today’s topic on Cross-Sections. Host Anthony Gube spoke with Rene Morkos, Founder and CEO of ALICE Technologies.

Morkos described his career journey, “I’ve been building stuff for 23 years, holding many different roles. I began to get interested in how do you run companies from an operations perspective.”

“Every player in construction is needed to create the change in the industry and opportunity.” -Rene Morkos

This curiosity and desire to disrupt with innovation led Morkos to develop the technology that powers ALICE. He explained that there were two pivotal moments. “I was trying to figure out the sequencing for a project to finish it as fast as possible and couldn’t do it and realized I needed a tool.”

That tool wasn’t available, but Morkos knew it could be. The second moment of inspiration came from looking at construction sites and seeing they were mostly empty. “The project was late, and I went to the window to look at the site, and there were six people in this large space. The question was how to increase space usage.”

Those were the founding challenges of creating a better solution. Years of research and refinement eventually resulted in the development of algorithms to plan projects more optimally. Morkos said it came down to “converting construction constraints to a generalized schedule.”

The construction industry is evolving due to AI and technology, providing planning tools based on valuable data. With the right solution, the field can rely on it to help them plan faster and smarter.