Q&A with Ayman Alafifi, Technology Innovation Lead at EKI Environment & Water

AEC firms have accepted AI for low-risk uses like automating repetitive tasks, seeing immediate wins for efficiency. However, these innovative technologies pose unique challenges to privacy and security, and major players have banned the use of generative AI altogether.

PSMJ spoke with Ayman Alafifi, Technology Innovation Lead at EKI Environment & Water, about how AEC firms can bring innovation into project management. He spoke at AEC INNOVATE in 2025.

How can firms bring AI into design and project management?

The key to closing the gap is shifting the mindset: AI isn’t just about automation — it’s about augmenting human decision-making. The real opportunity, especially for industries like water and environmental consulting, lies in applying AI to optimize resource planning, design workflows, and decision-making. In architecture, for example, we’re already seeing AI-powered tools like Spacemaker and Maket.ai being used for rapid prototyping, and platforms like Stable Diffusion that transform text prompts into visual sketches or conceptual site layouts. That’s incredibly powerful for early-stage planning.

In project management, AI tools are quietly becoming essential for tasks like automated reporting, resource forecasting, and schedule optimization. At EKI, we’ve developed interactive project management dashboards for clients that help them track multi-layered projects in real time — keeping schedules clear and deliverables on track, even when projects are complex and dynamic. Once firms start small with pilot projects and see the results, confidence grows, and adoption naturally spreads from back-office to front-line project delivery.

How can AI improve stakeholder collaboration?
What I’ve personally focused on is how AI can help accelerate the development of interactive dashboards and decision support systems that make technical information more accessible to decision-makers and the public.

This has been one of the most rewarding parts of my work in recent years: building intuitive web interfaces for complex numerical and engineering models. These tools allow clients — even those with no technical or coding background — to explore scenarios, adjust model assumptions interactively in real time, and directly see how those changes affect the outcomes. Whether it’s a simple Excel calculation or a complex numerical groundwater model, I always advocate for developing a user interface that elevates our clients’ understanding of the engineering behind the work and builds confidence in the results.

That confidence is especially important when you consider that our designs, models, and recommendations often shape major infrastructure investments. Clients need to feel informed and involved — not just at the end, but throughout the decision-making process. AI and automation are making it easier and faster to develop these kinds of interactive tools, helping bridge the gap between technical teams and stakeholders and allowing us to build consensus around informed, data-driven decisions.

How innovative is the water management industry today?

The water management industry is actually one of the fastest-growing spaces for technological innovation, even if it sometimes flies under the radar. I built my very first machine learning model almost 20 years ago as a civil engineering undergrad — and the demand for advanced data-driven models has only accelerated since.

The real challenge, though, is the gap between where these models are developed and real-world implementation. Universities and research groups have been doing cutting-edge work in optimization, decision algorithms, spatial analysis, and cloud computing. But only a small fraction of that research reaches the hands of public utilities or water providers. Why? It often comes down to infrastructure needs, expertise, and having a clear return on investment. Advanced models require specialized knowledge and significant technical setup — things many of our public agencies or small utilities couldn’t easily support.

How should your industry stay innovative?

AI, especially this new wave of generative AI and automation tools, can act as a real game changer — lowering the barrier to entry and making it easier for practitioners to adopt advanced tools without needing deep programming or modeling expertise. And I see consultants — especially those working at the intersection of engineering and data science — playing a critical role in bridging that gap. We’re the translators between cutting-edge research and real-world application.

I’ve had opportunities to work on multiple projects where complex decision support models and demand forecasting algorithms, which started out as theoretical research in academic settings, were later adapted and implemented for use by public water utilities. This type of collaboration — between water providers, the stakeholders they serve, and research institutes — is what truly excites me, and it’s where I see AI making a lasting, meaningful difference in our field.

This is content from the PSMJ Newsletter, exclusive to PSMJ PRO Members. PSMJ PRO is the fastest-growing network of AEC firm leaders. Not a PRO Member? Try a 50-day trial (no credit card required). You can request a trial here: https://bit.ly/50dayLI