Integrated applications of building information modeling and artificial intelligence techniques in the AEC/FM industry

Informatization and automatization are considered mainstream trends in the future architecture-engineering-construction/facility management (AEC/FM) industry. Building information modeling (BIM) is an effective technology to digitize building information, whereas artificial intelligence (AI) techniques facilitate automation. It could be contributive to focus on how to integrate BIM with AI techniques and apply them in actual projects. However, a comprehensive review of integrated applications is still lacking. This study reviews BIM-AI integrations in the AEC/FM industry by systematic-bibliometric analysis, and 183 eligible literature items are adopted. Bibliometric analysis reveals time series, journals, keywords co-occurrence, and co-authorship of eligible literature. Findings are summarized from perspectives of techniques and applications. Three typical integrated modes are determined based on the findings. Ultimately, current challenges and future directions of the development of BIM-AI integrations are proposed. This review contributes to systematically exploring applications of BIM-AI integrations in AEC/FM industry and delivers valuable development directions for BIM and AI. •Systematic literature review is used to review articles about the integrations of AI techniques and BIM in AEC/FM industry.•Bibliometric analysis reveals time series, journals, keywords co-occurrence, and co-authorship of 183 eligible articles.•Knowledge-based reasoning, metaheuristics, machine learning and hybrid AI are four main AI techniques integrated with BIM.•BIM-AI integrations are chiefly applied in the whole lifecycle of projects, automatic modeling and sustainable development.•AI-BIM integrated modes include collecting & updating BIMs, managing & analyzing BIMs, and implementing BIM-based tasks.