Artificial Intelligence and its impact on the project profession

In June 2022, the Association for Project Management (APM) published two new research reports through its Research Fund which explores the topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its impact on the project profession.

Artificial intelligence in project management, led by Nicholas Dacre, Associate Professor of Project Management at Southampton Business School and Fredrik Kockum, PhD candidate researcher, University of Southampton Business School, explores the general perception of AI and the ease of use of AI technology within projects. It highlights how it can support project planning and can enhance decision-making and problem-solving.

The report’s key findings include:

• AI enhances decision-making in projects.
• AI supports problem-solving functions.
• AI is most likely to be used during project planning.
• AI improves efficiency when analysing large volumes of data in projects.
• AI has the potential to increase project success and mitigate project failure.
• There is a positive correlation between the level of project complexity and the perceived usefulness of AI.

Dr Dacre said: "This very exciting research represents the culmination of over two years’ worth of engagement with the project management community. Our findings indicate that AI can enhance decision-making, improve the efficiency of project data analytics, and can increase project success."

Can artificial intelligence learn to be a project professional? led by Dr Ian Stewart, Reader in Project Management Education, University of Manchester and Dr Kun Wang, Engineering Project Management Lecturer, University of Manchester, provides insights on the benefits and limitations of AI for the project professional. The research aims to identify AI-aware project managers' beliefs, opinions and expectations regarding AI in the project management profession. The research evaluates these, using the sociology of professions and AI expert opinion as to how realistic those expectations are and the possible implications for the professional status of project management.

Dr Kun Wang said: “This research enables project management professionals to reflect on defensible competencies in front of AI. It motivates professional associations, employers and practitioners to rethink development approaches to build professionalism in the trend of developing AI technologies."

You can download both reports here

--Association for Project Management

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