Opting out of the most important conversation of our careers is not an option.
AI is no longer a future event. It is a live project variable shaping supply chains, forecasting risk, and soon directing autonomous plant on the sites we manage. And for many, that is not an exciting prospect but an unsettling one. The fear of replacement, often rooted in a lack of agency, is exactly what this conversation will be about.That is what I will be exploring on the 23rd of April at the Women In Construction & Engineering Awards Forum 2026, in a session with Harj Bains MBA, Global Head of AI, Data & Analytics at Laing O'Rourke. Someone who brings to this industry a depth of AI expertise it has rarely had access to, and a fresh perspective shaped outside of construction.
We will not be discussing how to use AI. We will be discussing how to lead it.
From the ethics of autonomous systems to what it means to become a "systems orchestrator" in 2026, this session is for the professionals who want to move from user to lead and for those who are not sure yet what that even means for them.
We will speak critically acknowledging that the "move fast" silicon philosophy that drives much of current AI development has real costs (environmental, social, and professional) and the people closest to operational reality are the ones best placed to set the pace and push back on implementation that does not line up with their aims.
As experts in adapting and improving systems not originally designed for us, we already know how to interrogate a process and rebuild it. That experience is the difference between AI that reflects the full complexity of our projects and AI that doesn't.
Is the industry ready to shape the logic, not just adopt it?
That is the conversation I am looking forward to on the 23rd.
WICESummit2026 WICEAwards AIinConstruction ConstructionLeadership WomenInEngineering DigitalConstruction FutureOfWork PhysicalAI
(Nano Banana image below...as, i would hope, anyone ccan tell)
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