What is applied AI in construction?
Bassem Hamdy · CEO, briq · November 10, 2026
Applied AI packages many AI tools to produce a business outcome. Here is how it differs from a chatbot or a bot, and what it means for construction.
Applied AI is the use of many AI technologies together, packaged to produce a specific business outcome. A large language model is one piece. Applied AI combines models with data analysis, document and drawing analysis, image tools, and computer use, then orchestrates them around real construction work. Bassem Hamdy compares an LLM to a single Lego brick and applied AI to the finished set.
How is applied AI different from a chatbot?
A chatbot answers questions for one person. Applied AI does work across a company. Otto, Briq's platform, uses LLMs, including Claude, but it is not an LLM. It orchestrates hundreds of components so that work like reading a lead, pulling plans and specs, and scoring an opportunity happens without someone prompting each step.
Why weren't bots enough?
Briq started by building bots that logged into existing software and entered or extracted data like a person would. Bassem tells the story of an early client where bots built a forecast spreadsheet in 30 minutes that used to take a person eight hours. It looked perfect. Then the client said the numbers were wrong, because the data in the accounting system was wrong and the real numbers lived in a separate spreadsheet. Bots move data. They cannot think about it, and they cannot fix a broken process. Every bot Briq built was filling a gap in older software, and that history showed where the real problems were.
What does an AI-first platform look like?
Traditional construction software is database first. Someone types data into tables so the system can report on it. Bassem describes Otto as the reverse: it starts from the documents and the work, and builds structure from them. In practice that means Otto is a place where work gets done, instead of a layer on top of an ERP or PM system. Bassem is direct that Otto cannot do everything. His target is 60% of the work taken off people's desks.
What should contractors look for in an AI platform?
Bassem gives four tests:
- Generative. The system adapts to how your company works instead of forcing a lowest common denominator.
- Orchestrated. It runs across departments, so estimating, operations, and accounting work from the same information.
- Autonomous. It does real work on your behalf, like researching a lead before anyone asks.
- Conversation first. People talk to it instead of clicking through screens, so a superintendent can build a daily log by talking through the day.
Why does the budget math favor an AI-first platform?
Bassem estimates construction spends about 1.5% of revenue on IT, one of the lowest rates of any industry, and most of that goes to systems that people have to feed with data. Asking for a separate AI budget on top of that is a hard sell. In his view it is cheap for an AI platform to add a place to store records, and very expensive for a records system to add real intelligence.
Frequently asked questions
Is Otto a large language model?
No. Otto uses LLMs, including Claude, along with many other components, and orchestrates them to complete construction work.
What is the difference between RPA and applied AI?
Robotic process automation moves data between systems by mimicking a person. Applied AI can read, reason about, and act on the information itself.
How much work can AI take over in construction today?
Bassem's target for Otto is about 60% of the work, with people staying in charge of decisions.
Watch the full conversation in Episode 2 of Future of Work: Rewired.