--- title: "Builders want AI they can trust: Insights from Groundbreak 26" description: Discover how builders can enhance trust in AI by establishing context through ontologies, enabling better decision-making in construction. image: https://www.ontollo.com/hubfs/ontollo-demo-booth.jpeg --- [Skip to the main content.](https://www.ontollo.com/blog/builders-want-ai-they-can-trust-insights-from-groundbreak-26#main-content) [![Ontollo\_logo-drkBG\_whiteRed\_100width](https://www.ontollo.com/hubfs/Ontollo_logo-drkBG_whiteRed_100width.svg "Ontollo_logo-drkBG_whiteRed_100width")](https://www.ontollo.com) [![Ontollo\_logo\_fullcolor-100px](https://www.ontollo.com/hubfs/Ontollo_logo_fullcolor-100px.svg "Ontollo_logo_fullcolor-100px")](https://www.ontollo.com) - Industries - [Agriculture](https://www.ontollo.com/agriculture) - [Construction](https://www.ontollo.com/construction) - [Team](https://www.ontollo.com/team) - [Blog](https://www.ontollo.com/blog) [Book a demo](https://www.ontollo.com/demo) Toggle Menu Toggle Menu [Book a demo](https://www.ontollo.com/demo) - Industries - [Agriculture](https://www.ontollo.com/agriculture) - [Construction](https://www.ontollo.com/construction) - [Team](https://www.ontollo.com/team) - [Blog](https://www.ontollo.com/blog) [Linkedin](https://www.linkedin.com/company/ontollo) 5 min read # Builders want AI they can trust: Insights from Groundbreak 26 [![Picture of Mike Dupuy](https://www.ontollo.com/hubfs/mike-bw.jpeg) Mike Dupuy](https://www.ontollo.com/blog/author/mike-dupuy) • October 27, 2026 [AEC](https://www.ontollo.com/blog/tag/aec) [AI Strategy](https://www.ontollo.com/blog/tag/ai-strategy) ![Builders want AI they can trust: Insights from Groundbreak 26](https://www.ontollo.com/hubfs/ontollo-demo-booth.jpeg) Last week, thousands of GCs, specialty contractors, and owners arrived in Orlando for Groundbreak 26 with one topic top of mind: AI. More than just this year's theme, AI was the focal point for every discussion, keynote presentation, workshop, and demo. Not whether it works, since most teams are already using it, but whether or not you can trust what it says. Our take? The answer depends less on the underlying model and more on the context that the AI has about your business. In this post, I want to hit on a few things: - Why the term "ontology" made its way into the main stage keynote - What builders told us about their trust in AI - Three paths to giving AI the context it needs to operate effectively, and the one we recommend you take ## Why "ontology" made its way to the main stage At Ontollo, we've been talking about ontologies for a while. In fact, the term even inspired our company name. What surprised us, though, is seeing it included in Procore's keynote. The reason why is pretty straightforward: builders want AI they can trust. ![IMG\_3152](https://www.ontollo.com/hs-fs/hubfs/IMG_3152.jpeg?width=600&height=450&name=IMG_3152.jpeg) An [ontology](https://www.ontollo.com/learn/what-is-an-ontology) is a shared definition of the things in your world and how they connect. It names the types of things (a project, an asset, an invoice), the details each one carries, and the rules that link them. This ensures that your people, your systems, and your AI all mean the same thing when they use the same word. AI ontologies are common especially in highly-regulated, complex industries like pharmaceuticals, banking, and logistics that rely on deterministic truth and absolute traceability. So it makes total sense that construction, an industry that relies on tons of disconnected moving parts, systems, and subcontractors, would be ripe for adopting ontologies to tie all that data together. In fact, not one of the attendees who took the [AI Maturity Assessment](https://www.ontollo.com/construction/ai-maturity-assessment/) we launched at Groundbreak said that they fully trust the responses their AI gives them. And when asked about their biggest blocker when it comes to AI, the most common response was trust. Earlier, I mentioned that trust comes from context. AI doesn't know what a submittal is on a given job, who owns it, or what breaks downstream when it slips, unless something tells it. An ontology is that something. It defines how a change order relates to a cost code, a schedule activity, and the crew building against the old drawing. Whoever defines those relationships sets the ceiling on what AI can do for the business. At Ontollo, we call the layer that holds them a [System of Reality](https://www.ontollo.com/learn/what-is-a-system-of-reality). ## What builders told us about trusting AI When offered to take the AI Maturity Assessment at Groundbreak, plenty of attendees laughed and told me they already knew their result would be in the early stages. They were mostly right: 52% landed in the *Learning* stage and 37% in *Growing*, with an average score of 36 out of 100. The details tell a more interesting story, though. Builders are further along than they give themselves credit for: - They're already using AI tools: 84% use at least one AI tool, and 58% use two or more with Copilot and ChatGPT as the most common. - **They're testing AI across the job, not for just one part:** 74% are exploring two or more use cases. RFIs and submittals and drawing and spec search top the list, followed by daily reports and meeting minutes. - **They know AI makes things up:** Every single person said they verify AI output to some degree. That's not a maturity gap. It's exactly the right instinct while most answers still arrive without receipts. - **Context gets in by copy and paste:** 74% feed AI by pasting information or attaching files to prompts. A little under half of responses are exploring or interested in piloting ontologies or other solutions. - **Output goes nowhere:** When AI produces something useful, 47% said that nothing happens or they have to retype its output into another system. - **Value goes unmeasured:** A majority of respondents said they do not have a way to currently measure the impact that AI provides. Put those findings together and the pattern becomes clear. Teams have the curiosity, the tools, and a healthy dose of skepticism. What they're missing is a reliable way to give AI the context of their business and trace every answer back to it. ## Three paths to context, and the one we'd take Almost everyone we talked to agreed that context matters. Where they split was on how to get it. Two schools of thought came up again and again, and we'd argue for a third. ### 1. Standardize everything on one platform In every industry, we've seen this path being one that vendors typically push for: context matters, so run every part of your business on our product and the context comes built in. There's real logic to it. One data model, one set of definitions, one place for AI to look, and a vendor who has done the hard work of modeling how construction runs. For a builder that can truly consolidate, it's a clean answer. But based on our conversations in working with builders, standardizing every aspect of your business on one platform is just not realistic. Construction firms run on a mix of individual systems of record and apps, often using spreadsheets for critical functions of their business. Not to mention, the systems a builder runs aren't always the builder's choice. Owners, partners, and acquisitions bring in their own.  ### 2. Build out a data lake Other teams are going the data lake or warehouse route: centralize everything, then point AI at it. A good warehouse is a real asset for reporting and analytics, and a few respondents already have one. The catch is the sequence. Data lake and warehouse projects are not simple or fast. They take months of lead time before AI sees anything, with little ability to know up front how much benefit comes out the other side. Many conversations we've had were with teams who weighing exactly that trade-off: do they finish a migration they estimated at six months or more, or start on AI now?  ### 3. Start with one decision, then expand Sometimes it's better to try it before you buy it. Or in this case, make sure that the AI gives you the benefits you expect before you rip and replace tools or undertake a months-long data standardization project. When we work with teams on building out their System of Reality and System of Action, we recommend they start small. As Tiffany wrote in her blog, [*Every company has that one decision they have to get right*](https://www.ontollo.com/blog/every-company-has-that-one-decision-they-have-to-get-right), operators usually already know which call matters most to their margin. That decision is the place to start, not a list of everything AI might do someday. From there, you're able to see whether AI is delivering real, tangible outcomes.  Here's our approach: - Start with one decision or use case: Pick a question the business needs answered well, like where cost exposure is building across the schedule, project management, and invoicing. - Connect only what that decision needs: Existing systems stay where they are. Ontollo overlays a context layer that tracks what's actually true across them, instead of replacing them or waiting on a migration. Integrations alone won't get you there, because they sync on a schedule and don't show current state. - Get results fast, then expand: AI reasons on top of that layer, inside the boundaries the team sets, and every answer carries a trail back to the source record, so teams can check it instead of re-prompting. If it works, the next decision builds on the same ontology rather than starting over. That's how a team gets from "somewhat" to trusting its AI: one decision at a time, with proof at every step. ## See Ontollo in action To wrap things up, I'd love to thank everyone who stopped by our booth, and to the Procore team for a great show. We had an amazing time and look forward to seeing you all again soon. As a next step, we recommend you take the same 4-minute [AI Maturity Assessment](https://www.ontollo.com/construction/ai-maturity-assessment/)the builders in Orlando took. You'll get your score and see how your team compares with other construction companies. If anything in this blog sounds useful or interesting to you, we'd love to show you what a strong foundation of grounded AI can deliver for your business. Get in touch with us to [book a demo](https://www.ontollo.com/demo).   ## See what your systems can’t see yet Connect the financial picture at HQ to what is actually happening in the field and give your AI the operational context it needs to be useful. [Book a demo](https://www.ontollo.com/demo) [![Every company has that one decision they have to get right](https://www.ontollo.com/hubfs/shipyard-containers.png)](https://www.ontollo.com/blog/every-company-has-that-one-decision-they-have-to-get-right) [AI Strategy](https://www.ontollo.com/blog/tag/ai-strategy) 5 min read #### [Every company has that one decision they have to get right](https://www.ontollo.com/blog/every-company-has-that-one-decision-they-have-to-get-right) With companies racking up AI bills for their experiments, the conversation has decidedly shifted to measuring outcomes. Boards ask about them, pilot... ![](https://www.ontollo.com/hs-fs/hubfs/tiffany.jpeg?width=32&height=32&name=tiffany.jpeg) [**Tiffany To**](https://www.ontollo.com/blog/author/tiffany-to) September 28, 2026 [Read More →](https://www.ontollo.com/blog/every-company-has-that-one-decision-they-have-to-get-right) [![AI in Construction: Top takeaways from Autodesk University 2026](https://www.ontollo.com/hubfs/eric-au2026.jpeg)](https://www.ontollo.com/blog/ai-construction-top-takeaways-au-2026) [AEC](https://www.ontollo.com/blog/tag/aec) 4 min read #### [AI in Construction: Top takeaways from Autodesk University 2026](https://www.ontollo.com/blog/ai-construction-top-takeaways-au-2026) I've walked the halls of the Venetian in Las Vegas more times than I can count, mostly for cybersecurity conferences, so I arrived at AU 2026 last... ![](https://www.ontollo.com/hs-fs/hubfs/ericmiddleton-headshot.jpeg?width=32&height=32&name=ericmiddleton-headshot.jpeg) [**Eric Middleton**](https://www.ontollo.com/blog/author/eric-middleton) September 21, 2026 [Read More →](https://www.ontollo.com/blog/ai-construction-top-takeaways-au-2026) [![Your system of record can't tell you when it's wrong](https://www.ontollo.com/hubfs/system-of-reality-layered.png)](https://www.ontollo.com/blog/your-system-of-record-cant-tell-you-when-its-wrong) [System of Reality](https://www.ontollo.com/blog/tag/system-of-reality) 5 min read #### [Your system of record can't tell you when it's wrong](https://www.ontollo.com/blog/your-system-of-record-cant-tell-you-when-its-wrong) I left Atlassian this year to join Noah Wasmer as co-founder and CEO of Ontollo. We had built together before, infrastructure systems for F500 at... ![](https://www.ontollo.com/hs-fs/hubfs/tiffany.jpeg?width=32&height=32&name=tiffany.jpeg) [**Tiffany To**](https://www.ontollo.com/blog/author/tiffany-to) August 20, 2026 [Read More →](https://www.ontollo.com/blog/your-system-of-record-cant-tell-you-when-its-wrong) [![Ontollo\_logo\_fullcolor-100px](https://www.ontollo.com/hubfs/Ontollo_logo_fullcolor-100px.svg)](https://www.ontollo.com) - [Privacy Policy](https://www.ontollo.com/privacy-policy) © 2026 Ontollo Inc. 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