RIYADH: Across the global construction sector, long considered one of the most resistant to digitization, a quiet revolution is unfolding.
Artificial intelligence is no longer a mere buzzword confined to laboratories and boardrooms. It is increasingly present in the urban fabric, embedded into scaffolding, concrete and command centers.
One company at the heart of this shift is viAct, a Hong Kong-based AI firm co-founded by Gary Ng and Hugo Cheuk. Their aim is to make construction safer, smarter and significantly more productive using a scenario-based AI engine built for complex, high-risk environments.
“Despite being one of the most labor-intensive and hazardous industries, construction remains vastly under-digitized,” Ng told Arab News. “We saw this as an opportunity to bring AI-driven automation and insights to frontline operations.
Unlike conventional surveillance tools that simply record footage, viAct’s platform acts like a digital foreman. It interprets real-time visual data to detect unsafe practices, productivity gaps and anomalies, all without human supervision.
