Business as usual; a “new” challenge for the professions

My back story

As the RICS Champion for Digital and a member of the Digital Forum led by the Construction Industry Council, I am convinced, that the ‘global’ white collar community has no choice but to upskill and increase their client facing relevance. Back in 1993, I wrote my first-degree thesis in a subject matter called “Artificial Intelligence in Construction Claims Management” – which explored the wide scale potential to use ‘artificial neural networks’ [current day AI] and hypertext expert-systems [current day machine learning]. My aim was to provide a ‘low-cost’ free at the point of access, pre-submission, claims validator that would give potential claimants (in this case the small builder) the opportunity to validate their claim, on a scale of 10 ‘go to court’ down to 1, ‘don’t go to court’. It was a relatively simple but wholly misunderstood concept in July 1994, when I submitted my thesis and was invited back, my University to validate that it was my own work; prior to being awarded a Double First with Honours.

The ‘historic’ cultural challenge

However, my industry facing frustrations had only just begun when I entered the industry in November 1994, working for a Top Ten firm of Chartered Quantity Surveyors, right in the heart of the City of London. Back then, the MS-DOS PC and legendary facsimile were the order of the day and (generally) there was relatively no use of digital ways of working. Frustrated by the perceived direction of travel of the PQS profession and on qualifying in December 1999, I set about on a personal adventure _ that lasted some four (4) years, to find out where across the world, the technology revolution had taken off. I travelled across three continents, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. Inspired by what I had seen and heard, on my return to London from a trip to the US in August 2000, I set up a new company called AIQS Limited in 2003. The secret was in the name ‘Artificially Intelligent Quantity Surveying’ and I approached my professional body, who reluctantly, said that they could not support my idea, as “there exists no regulatory framework to monitor and manage the risks involved”. So, my idea became a ‘pending’ one and the business sat at Companies House, registered since 17^th February 2003, as a dormant company. I remain indebted to ChatGPT, whose arrival, has since helped to unlock the ‘business-case’ and ensured that in March 2025 _ after a 22year campaign _ we were publicly endorsed as an RICS Tech Partner, which also gave birth to #PQS2030.

A new era for knowledge-based professions

Just over two years ago (June 2023), at the launch of Diversitas. I took a moment to believe that whilst, in the UK, we have ‘progressed’ on race relations [compared to where we were during the period of the Windrush] we are yet again, about to embark on a journey of exploration and cultural challenge, one where equity has now, literally been democratised in technology terms. I see this new challenge, which sits on top of the legacy of COVID, requiring a new era of knowledge and intelligence. Whilst ChatGPT and other generative AI platforms that have emerged since (November 2022) are designed to ‘make your life easier’ there is a real and pressing need for EVERY built environment professional (particularly the white collar) to work even harder to justify their ‘fee-paying’ existence. The reality is, that we will all need to adopt ‘new’ digital skills and embrace ‘new’ digitally infused, data-driven business models.

Excerpt:

“As AI becomes more common in decision-making, it’s important to be aware of the risks and opportunities from the beginning, particularly with AI agents: independent software and hardware systems that can perform tasks independently on behalf of a user or another system. Here’s why:

1. Many AI agents are experimental and should be used in controlled environments, at least initially. Governance will require new oversight as multiple AI agents are used to perform more complex activities and flexible activities – from procurement to communication tasks.
2. Data control and confidentiality must remain a priority as multi-agent systems process large datasets and require ongoing monitoring for compliance.
3. Application programming interfaces (APIs) gateways used to drive multi-agents to perform complex activities need to be secured.” _ RICS President Elect 2025

The pending ‘regulatory’ time-bomb

Such a shift will (and has) undoubtedly un-nerved both qualified practitioners, and their professional bodies, most of whom are members of the CIC. However, the impact of this seismic paradigm shift, will likely affect the fee-paying client too, who in many ways are wholly reliant upon said, professionals. Of equal importance is their unfamiliarity with this fast paced and constantly evolving landscape of change.

So, at present there are literally three (3) scenarios for the professional services provider:

(1) you ARE permitted to use AI,

(2) you are NOT permitted to use AI at all; or

(3) the client will accept a HYBRID model where the advisor is expected to caveat exactly where AI has been deployed

In all instances, the current landscape of PI has entered an interesting era, where there appears to be cart blanche ‘you are not covered’ approach. Regrettably, this does not address the fact that ‘generative AI’ is not a new phenom at all and frankly, is here to stay.