S7E153: AI in Project Controls: Separating Fact from Fiction with Alan Mosca

The Project Chatter Podcast

In this week’s pod, we welcomed back Alan Mosca to discuss AI in Project Controls – Separating fact from fiction.

Alan is the co-founder and CTO of nPlan, where he leads technology, research, and product, whilst developing thought leadership about forecasting and risk. Before nPlan, Alan spent 7 years as a technologist in quantitative finance, on live trading systems, research, and front-office in both high-frequency trading and asset management.

Alan has extensive experience in algorithm design and software engineering and holds a BEng in Computer Engineering, MSc in Computer Science, and doctoral research in machine learning theory.

The main topics we discussed on the podcast were as follows:

• There needs to be a lot of responsibility with using data from AI toolsets
• Toolsets are available that can auto-plan a successor activity in a schedule based on previous data
• Large language models only work based on language. Chat GPT took longer to reach the mainstream because of the data checks to ensure outputs were not inappropriate
• AI will not replace humans on projects. It will only evolve their current roles
• In the next 3-5 years we will see models that can internalize the meaning of a project
• AI could be used to measure schedule compliance with the contract
• Models can’t self-regulate which can lead to biases in data.
• We’re past the point of having a common data environment
• Create better things not faster things!
• Simulation is harder than AI because it requires a greater level of precision
• One person’s experience is another person’s bias
• One of the main fictions of AI is that everything will be possible. It will never predict the future, it will only forecast possible outcomes
• Be a critic! AI outputs are not infallible

Here are links to some of the topics we discussed:

• David Chalmers – Are Large Language Models Sentient? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BcuCmf00_Y

Join us next time when we’re re-joined by Christine McLean to discuss EQ, IQ, and MQ: Unlocking the Power of Softer Skills

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