Kai Harary Explores AI’s Role in the Future of Construction - UF College of Design, Construction and Planning

Artificial intelligence is changing what the construction industry builds—and how it builds it. For University of Florida College of Design, Construction and Planning student and UF AI Scholar Kai Harary, understanding both sides of that transformation has become the focus of his undergraduate research.

Harary wants to spend his career helping build the future of Miami. But as he began studying where the industry is headed, he discovered a chain reaction: advances in AI are driving demand for new infrastructure while simultaneously creating new ways to design, manage, and build it.

A CAREER AROUND PEOPLE

Harary’s interest in construction began well before his research. Growing up in Miami, he was drawn to hands-on projects and influenced by family members working across entrepreneurship, property management, construction and real estate.

Many of his role models shared qualities he hopes to emulate. They were successful professionals who remained committed parents, mentors, and supporters of the people around them. Their example shaped his definition of leadership and his desire to eventually use his own career to create opportunities for others.

After earning his bachelor’s degree from the M.E. Rinker, Sr. School of Construction Management in 2027, he plans to pursue a master’s degree in real estate to better understand the full lifecycle of a project—from financing and development through construction and operation.

Eventually, he wants to bring that knowledge back to his hometown. The Miami native wants to look across the city that raised him and recognize projects he helped shape—not simply as buildings on the skyline, but as lasting contributions to his hometown.

AI INFRASTRUCTURE

Harary began experimenting with generative AI as the technology entered widespread public use. What started with everyday questions progressed into using language models to assist with increasingly complicated tasks.

A Rinker School trip to Atlanta then changed the way he understood AI’s relationship with his own industry.

At a massive data center development, Harary watched as hundreds of acres were transformed to accommodate new computing facilities and their supporting infrastructure. Seeing the scale of the construction—and the accompanying demands for water, electricity, cooling, land, and labor—gave him a new perspective.

AI does not exist or grow solely inside a computer. It relies on physical buildings filled with computing infrastructure, supported by enormous amounts of electricity, water, cooling, utilities and construction.

That realization became the starting point for his undergraduate research.

AI IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Through the UF AI Scholars program, Harary is exploring the relationship between artificial intelligence and industrialized construction under the mentorship and sponsorship of Dr. Andrew Wehle, an impactful educator at the Rinker School who has helped guide the development of Harary’s research.

For Harary, two transformations are inseparable: construction is building the infrastructure that makes AI possible, while AI is simultaneously changing how construction operates.

His research begins with the physical infrastructure behind the AI boom. Data centers are the most visible component, but their expansion creates additional demand and questions surrounding power generation and transmission, water availability, cooling technology, land development, and the construction capacity necessary to deliver increasingly complex facilities.

The research then moves into industrialized construction—the intersection between construction and manufacturing—and emerging approaches including prefabrication, modular construction, and digital twins.

Attending the inaugural International Conference on Industrialized Construction (IConIC ’26) helped bring those ideas together. Surrounded by researchers and industry professionals specializing in different areas of industrialized construction, Harary saw technologies that sound futuristic being actively researched, tested, and implemented.

“I was seeing all these technologies that most people in construction don’t encounter every day, and I realized I didn’t want to study just one of them. I wanted to understand how they all connect.”

— Kai Harary

Rather than specializing in one technology, he wants to create an accessible overview connecting the different forces reshaping construction. The goal is not to predict that every emerging technology will succeed, but to give construction professionals a clearer picture of what is changing, what remains uncertain and what deserves their attention.

The final portion of his research turns AI back toward the construction industry itself.

Construction teams manage enormous quantities of information through drawings, specifications, request for information (RFIs), submittals, schedules, estimates, contracts and project correspondence. Tools such as Togal.AI, which applies AI to preconstruction workflows, and Document Crunch, which analyzes construction documents, demonstrate how these capabilities are already entering everyday project operations.

Harary also learned firsthand why adoption requires more than access to new technology.

During his internship with KAST Construction in Miami, he used AI to accelerate the creation of a permit log in Excel. When his project manager began asking questions about the finished product, Harary realized that although he had completed the task faster, he had skipped some of the knowledge he was supposed to gain by completing it.

The experience reinforced an important distinction: automation without understanding can create efficiency without expertise.

For an individual, that knowledge gap can limit professional development. Scaled across a company, the same gap raises larger questions about verification, quality control, accountability and the development of future construction professionals.

For Harary, the important question is therefore not simply what AI can automate, but how construction companies can implement it without sacrificing the knowledge, judgment and accountability their professionals need.

INSIDE THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Answering that question requires more than published research.

Harary plans to supplement his literature review and market analysis with original surveys and interviews from construction professionals. He wants to understand where companies already use AI, which applications professionals believe create real value, what prevents wider adoption and which human skills become more valuable as technology improves.

His research will also examine whether AI-related development is beginning to influence the strategic direction of construction companies—from small contractors to major firms—including the market sectors they pursue and the types of projects they choose to bid.

As data collection begins, Harary is actively seeking construction professionals willing to participate in his industry survey or share their experiences through an interview. Contractors, developers, engineers, researchers, technology specialists and professionals working with AI, data centers, industrialized construction, or emerging construction technologies are encouraged to contribute their perspectives. Professionals from other fields or levels of experience who believe their perspective could strengthen the research are also welcome to connect with him.

Their experiences will help ground research about the future of construction in the perspectives of the people building it today.

BECOMING THE BRIDGE

The research is also helping Harary define the role he wants to occupy within that future.

He does not simply want to know how to use AI. He wants to understand emerging technologies deeply enough to translate them into something useful for other people.

“AI tools don’t make me smarter than an experienced construction professional; they give me an opportunity to combine their knowledge with technology so they can interact with their projects more seamlessly, work more productively and spend more of their time actually managing the work.”

— Kai Harary

He imagines traveling to projects, walking into jobsite offices, meeting teams face-to-face, and helping professionals understand how new systems can improve the work they already perform. In an increasingly digital industry, he believes trust, communication, and the ability to teach will remain distinctly human advantages.

That ambition reflects the mentors who shaped him. He wants to eventually reach a position where his knowledge can create opportunities for younger students and professionals, just as professors, administrators, industry leaders, and family members have created opportunities for him.

Harary credits Dr. Wehle, his mentors at UF, the professionals who have shared their knowledge and the leaders he encountered through experiences such as IConIC ‘26 for helping him discover a field he believes could shape the rest of his career.

Eventually, success would mean more than looking across Miami and recognizing projects he helped bring to life. It would mean recognizing people he helped move forward—young professionals he taught, teams he made more effective and others who gained opportunities because someone took the time to bring them along.

The technologies he studies will continue to evolve, but the people surrounding his journey have helped reinforce a principle he hopes will remain constant:

“The future of construction will be built by people willing to learn, teach and bring others along with them.”