Exploring the Potential of Artificial Intelligence in Construction Project Management: A Narrative Review

The challenges of cost overruns, schedule delays, quality inconsistencies, and safety incidents in the construction environment pose a significant risk to successful project execution.This review explores how artificial intelligence and extended reality technologies are transforming construction processes and enhancing project outputs.This narrative review draws on peer-reviewed papers identified through targeted keyword searches in Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, ResearchGate, and Academia, with relevance and quality judged informally by the author team based on their combined construction industry and academic research experience; no formal quality-appraisal instrument was applied and this review does not follow Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses-type systematicreview reporting.Reported findings in the underlying literature indicate that machine learning models based on neural networks, support vector machines, and random forests can reduce forecast errors, and that dynamic scheduling tools and anomaly detection algorithms are associated with earlier detection of delays and emerging risks in the specific studies reviewed; these are presented as findings of particular studies rather than general established effects.The use of computer vision and thermal imaging enables defect detection and quality checks to be automated, while wearable sensors and predictive models enhance hazard detection and worker safety.Despite these opportunities, the review finds that implementation barriers are widely reported in developing-economy contexts, including Nigeria; the specific claim that these barriers have a comparatively greater impact than in other contexts is moderated here, as it was not directly evidenced.The review ends with a call for better empirical study, better understanding between practitioners and technologists, better data governance and bias auditing, and better policy support to ensure that these tools are widely accessible, not just within well-resourced firms.