Dive Brief:
- McCarthy Building Cos. is looking to get a leg up on its artificial intelligence adoption, and it’s signed a deal with a prominent software development firm to get the job done.
- St. Louis-based McCarthy has signed a multiyear, multimillion-dollar agreement with Palantir to power up its internal AI capabilities, according to a Thursday announcement from the developer.
- The contractor will use Palantir’s Artificial Intelligence Platform to develop a connected AI operating system, per Palantir, which will help McCarthy employees on construction steps that range from design to building in the field.
Dive Insight:
The partnership is centered around Pulse, McCarthy’s AI-native system that offers field teams real-time insight, scenario planning, risk analysis and decision orchestration, according to the announcement.
Miami-based Palantir provides AI-based software solutions for a wide range of customers in sectors such as military, retail, food manufacturing and investment management firms. The firm has gained recognition as a defense contractor via its “Gotham” software platform.
Pulse is modeled in Palantir’s Ontology segment of its AI business, which the developer describes as a “tool factory” that lets people develop applications, set parameters and ready them for use, according to its website. On McCarthy’s side, Pulse helps superintendents, project managers and field operators make decisions and evaluate options on the jobsite.
McCarthy will use AIP to connect aspects of the business, such as contracts, estimating and execution, through that same Ontology.
The partnership also marks a turning point for the builder — McCarthy will model its internal tech team around embedded Palantir engineers and build enterprise-grade software natively with its own internal applications team.
“Beyond the ontology and technology itself, Palantir brings exceptional engineering talent and strategic thought leadership that has accelerated our ability to transform complex operational concepts into scalable solutions faster than we thought possible,” said Justin McFarland, McCarthy’s chief digital officer, in the announcement.
That build versus buy calculus is not a new consideration in the construction industry. As construction firms become more tech-literate, they’ve found they often understand their own needs more acutely than third-party vendors.
To that end, builders have begun to partner with later-stage startups, particularly those which can tailor solutions to meet their own specific needs.
Indeed, Turner Construction, the largest contractor in the U.S. by revenue, has taken a position further down that line of inquiry. The builder has questioned the economic incentive to pay a startup that provides a solution, rather than building its own.
Turner took a step in the latter direction last fall, when it announced its companywide partnership with OpenAI.
