Civil Engineers

A civil engineer which is very similar to an architectural engineer, focus on the drafting and maintenance of a building. It involves heavy mathematics on any infrastructure design which is very specific. For some examples of every part needed to be designed as perfectly as possible: Plumbing, Electricity, Insulation, Materials and Compounds (Chemically, what is dangerous or safe), Foundations, all within a certain budget. These have to be drafted well before they are built by the many different types of constructors. The point of this drafting is to create a building that is safe, affordable and long lasting as well as serving what purpose it needs to do. Most AIs mentioned that replace jobs are either physical machines on a conveyor or language models. A language model can summarize ideas and combine them, but with the specifics needed in engineering where slight mistakes can cause catastrophe, a general AI wouldn't be specific enough to complete it. It could recommend ideas but a language AI is programmed to be agreeable, not correct. A civil engineer is also required to be physically present at work sites from time to time like a foreman to make sure that things are built according to the draft. No AI can actually see at this point, making it useless in determining if something was build correctly or not. In a hydroelectric dam, it is an extreme infrastructure design. Of course both humans and AIs can make mistakes but each design needs independent thought because it will always be different. A human can learn, adapt and use original thought. An AI does as programmed, it can't adapt or think. It can gather from a large database if data was granted, but the result is rather similar in any manner. An AI can also be programmed incorrectly and with bias. Civil Engineers study each subject heavily to apply it to their designs. It can compare and contrast with physics, chemistry and mathematics in each design. In bridges, triangular design is one of the best for supporting materials, a Truss bridge for example. In most cases, it is done at the top of the bridge to aid suspension and reduce stress (as two simple concept examples), however it can be done underneath rarely in some cases, like the Cantilever bridge. Physics argues against most cases because of material and compression. A civil engineer can easily recognize the stability of a bridge design by their gathered and applied knowledge, noticing if a design is horribly incorrect and wouldn't work, like the design mentioned. A general AI would not apply knowledge and only say what may be best. If the knowledge that an AI had on bridges was the Cantilever and not a mixed knowledge of all like most engineers learn, it will only recommend the type no matter what should actually be used. To conclude simply, AI could not replace this job as a physical AI would be too limited to do anything and a language AI would not be able to apply knowledge well enough.

That's cool that being a civil engineer would be a very safe job. I would think that there would always be a demand for their services, and it couldn't be done easily by a computer. I'll have to consider that as a career path since I would want a secure job.

Well, I'm not a civil engineer but I feel safer in the hands of a human

Small chance to replace completely, partial replacement might be possible. Because in real world environment, in a construction site, the installment of robots for construction work without human/engineering interaction is nearly impossible. Just think about a dam construction in a river or road construction in a remote/ hilly/ forest area. Or think about geotechnical/environmental works. Or think about waste management and treatment with the use of bacteria. All these works need huge research, human interaction, human experience and knowledge. Most of these can not be treated by robots/automation/ai. They might assist to conduct the repititive works. Soil nature might change 3-10 times even in a 1000 sft area. How anyone can design an infrastructure without soil test!! AI or automation might make easier to conduct soil test. But, the automation system must be installed in the site. Site engineer will decide about the sample with his practical experience, taken by the automated soil tester. Therefore, human civil engineering interaction is not replacable, I think.

It needs creativity.

Although we work constantly immersed in tech, there's much of subjectivity at our tasks and routine.

AI is rapidly growing but its more likely to replace jobs used on the internet more, i know civil engineers use the internet but i think that its got to be too complicated especially talking to the contratcors

Automation will augment the field greatly but will not replace civil engineers at all

I'd also like to point out that the design aspect "may" be automated but in the field when problems occur which tends to be often in Construction...will still need individuals with experience and "know-how" to prevent a domino affect of problems to follow. So, I think Civil Engineers and Inspectors are safe from their jobs being automated.

I vote "likely" because of the advanced technology we have today, and I think after 2 decades it is possible to develop and enhance it more. In that case, robots might replace some duties of a Civil Engineer but still, it is needed to be controlled by a professional. So I vote "likely"

Many calculations are based on design codes and standards which simply need to be converted to the logic of a program. Engineers will mostly be relegated to determining the inputs to the program.

Civil engineers apply the same set of rules to each site/project they work on. These rules could be universally standardized, and then replicated and applied to sites/projects by AI using well-defined algorithms that account for all scenarios. One day civil engineering design (and likely all other engineering design) will be heavily automated with little input by the designer.

With regards to John's comment on data entry: the data entry can and should be automated. However, the design and management aspects, including field investigations, high level design, decisions made from years of engineering experience, liaising with a team of multi-disciplinary professionals, and dealing with highly variable conditions at every different site means that this job (for the foreseeable future) is not highly susceptible to automation.

As an engineer, I spend my days punching in repetitive numbers for various calculations. This seems that it could be easily automated.

It is interesting that there is only 1.9% of automating civil works jobs. This makes the job pretty safe for now. I'll have to tell more people to pursue it for now.

Yeah no, civil engineers have to go to the job site and actually talk to the specific client and know what questions to ask so there isn’t really any possibility I see them getting replaced

I think that just in a decade most of the civil engineers who design structural components, can loose their jobs easily. Just feed the structural layout and surrounding environmental conditions to computer, the quantity of material along with design, placement, cost and estimated time for structure to complete will be shared by computer. P.s. : I wish this doesn't happen.

The commands will still be from the Engineer. Robots and AI will only make the work faster and more efficient.

It depends on which particular divisions you are involved with. Engineering design, yes, we can already see some automation here. Construction, nah, not in this lifetime. Contract and Project Management, haha, good luck robots/AI's.

Civil engineers need high creativity and robots are just programmed to do a specific task again and again