AI for Engineers

“Digital is a very big part of Mott MacDonald’s strategy. For the past four years or so, people across the industry have been talking about AI, how it can be used and how it can be incorporated into what we do in an organic and productive manner. We’ve all been encouraged to investigate how we can contribute to this.

“I'm interested in the inner workings of AI and how it relates to data protection, security risks, copyright, hallucinating answers, and so on. Plus, I wanted to understand the costs of building or using an AI system. If you approach AI with the thought that it will do everything for you, you're not going to have much success. But if you can understand your domain and utilise it as a tool – the same as any other tool –  then it seems to me it has fantastic potential.

“My team leader spotted the course and suggested it to me as he knew I was looking into improving our digital capability. I wanted to explore where AI can streamline certain aspects of my role. I thought it could support me and my team to deliver our roles better, and maybe improve areas which are potentially a bit outdated.”

“We covered so much! Ali Parandeh, the course leader, did a great job because the delegates were not just engineers, but managers, people from the manufacturing side and so on. So, a really wide range of experiences to work with.

“He built up our knowledge over two days. On the first day, we were mostly talking about high level concepts. He introduced various theories, but in small bite-sized chunks and compared them to areas that we had more experience of. There was certainly no expectation of us being able to code.

“We went through real-life examples of AI and how it has been applied, using case studies from other industries. Naturally, as engineers, we are always wanting to draw on inspiration from other sectors. That really got me thinking.

“We also considered what data means: from unstructured data, which is often what we are dealing with in reports, all the way through to more structured data, such as databases. AI’s strength is being able to help bridge the gap between unstructured and structured data. For example, that could be extracting information from reports or object detection in imagery.

“The second day, Ali introduced to us more difficult concepts. A lot of computer science, terminology and theories. That second day was hard for many of us! At the same time, though, Ali also managed to fit in a few exercises to keep us all engaged. For example, he got us to pitch a use of AI to each other, in the same way we would pitch it back to our own businesses.

“I came away feeling like I’d used my brain in a way I hadn’t since university! I could envision lots of different applications that we could see as potential use cases.”

1. “There are so many different meanings to AI and the underlying terminologies. Sometimes it might seem like a buzzword but it is so much more than just ChatGPT and Copilot. Before you try to utilise AI, you should have a basic understanding of it. That’s where this course comes in.”
2. “There is an algorithmic bias that is inherent within AI due to its learning process. This course explains why that happens, how you need to train AI and how to apply feedback mechanisms, so that in the long term it iterates to address bias.”
3. “You’ll see how AI is a bit of a wild west field at the moment! There are a handful of guidelines but for the most part there is an absence of oversight. The lack of regulation is in many ways concerning but it does also present many opportunities for people to get involved. There is a lot of potential.”

“I think once you understand what AI is and what data you can apply it to, you can more confidently brainstorm real, possible and useful applications. That was one of the greatest benefits of the course for me.

“Over the two days, we talked about how we could bring AI into our own work day-to-day. I’ve played around and experimented with it a bit but what I want to do now is to start pushing more into adaptation, optimisation and innovation. The course helped me jumpstart that process and I can now try to incorporate AI into some of the more difficult projects and problems that we're facing.

“My manager always encourages us to bring new knowledge to the rest of the team. So, I have given a few presentations on what I picked up during the two days. To be honest, I struggled not to go into the depth of detail that I really wanted to. The subject is so fascinating. The talks went really well and interest here has skyrocketed. I’m sure there'll be more people from Mott MacDonald going on this course in future.”

1. “Before you attend the course, have a play around with whatever AI you can access – ChatGPT, Copilot, Meta AI and so on. It will give you a basic understanding of what we have available at our fingertips.”
2. “Bring a pen and paper, write down questions and thoughts – and share. Ali is very happy to try to answer any questions. You gain a lot of insight from the other delegates who are in different industries. The feel is more like a workshop than a lecture.”
3. “Consider how AI could be utilised to help you. There are opportunities to develop these thoughts during the course.”

“I’ve recently finished studying for a masters in Space Engineering at the University of Surrey where I looked at how I can use AI to approach data for my thesis. I am working on a prototype systems engineering product for that and I’m currently porting my research work over to Mott MacDonald. I hope it will become part of our systems engineers’ toolkits in the future. I think AI can help me with that process.

“I’ve also used AI in my personal life. I am going to Thailand and Japan for a friend's wedding, and aiming to travel around while there. I asked AI to give me a basic itinerary, based on the amount of time available and where I was going. As a first pass, it did a lot of work for me. It’s given me some good ideas that I will be able to build on to make a proper itinerary.”