Rex

Rex AI

Rex AI

Rex AI

Rex AI

Rex AI

Rex AI

Rex AI

Rex AI

Rex AI

Rex AI

How generative AI could help make construction sites safer

Last winter, during the construction of an affordable housing project on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, a 32-year-old worker named Jose Luis Collaguazo Crespo [slipped off a ladder](https://www.mvtimes.com/2025/02/11/construction-worker-dies-falling-ladder/) on the second floor and plunged to his death in the basement. He was one of more than [1,000 construction workers who die on the job each year in the US,](https://www.constructiondive.com/news/construction-deaths-2024-safety-bls/736002/) making it the most dangerous [industry](https://blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-science-blog/2024/05/01/falls-2024/) for fatal slips, trips, and falls. “Everyone talks about [how] ‘safety is the number-one priority,’” entrepreneur and executive Philip Lorenzo said during a presentation at Construction Innovation Day 2025, a conference at the University of California, Berkeley, in April. “But then maybe internally, it’s not that high priority. People take shortcuts on job sites. And so there’s this whole tug-of-war between … safety and productivity.” To combat the shortcuts and risk-taking, Lorenzo is working on a tool for the San Francisco–based company DroneDeploy**,** which sells software that creates daily digital models of work progress from videos and images, known in the trade as “reality capture.”  The tool, called Safety AI, analyzes each day’s reality capture imagery and [flags conditions that violate Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)](https://help.dronedeploy.com/hc/article_attachments/26767090362391) rules, with what he claims is 95% accuracy. That means that for any safety risk the software flags, there is 95% certainty that the flag is accurate and relates to a specific OSHA regulation. Launched in October 2024, it’s now being deployed on hundreds of construction sites in the US, Lorenzo says, and versions specific to the building regulations in countries including Canada, the UK, South Korea, and Australia have also been deployed. Safety AI is one of multiple AI construction safety tools that have emerged in recent years, from [Silicon Valley](https://www.dronedeploy.com/product/safety-ai) to [Hong Kong](https://www.viact.ai/construction) to [Jerusalem](https://safeguardai.com/). Many of these rely on teams of human “clickers,” often in low-wage countries, to manually draw bounding boxes around images of key objects like ladders, in order to label large volumes of data to train an algorithm. Lorenzo says Safety AI is the first one to use generative AI to flag safety violations, which means an algorithm that can do more than recognize objects such as ladders or hard hats. The software can “reason” about what is going on in an image of a site and draw a conclusion about whether there is an OSHA violation. This is a more advanced form of analysis than the object detection that is the current industry standard, Lorenzo claims. But as the 95% success rate suggests, Safety AI is not a flawless and all-knowing intelligence. It requires an experienced safety inspector as an overseer. ### **A visual language model in the real world** Robots and AI tend to thrive in controlled, largely static environments, like factory floors or shipping terminals. But construction sites are, by definition, changing a little bit every day. Lorenzo thinks he’s built a better way to monitor sites, using a type of generative AI called a visual language model, or VLM. A VLM is an LLM with a vision encoder, allowing it to “see” images of the world and analyze what is going on in the scene. Using years of reality capture imagery gathered from customers, with their explicit permission, Lorenzo’s team has assembled what he calls a “golden data set” encompassing tens of thousands of images of OSHA violations. Having carefully stockpiled this specific data for years, he is not worried that even a billion-dollar tech giant will be able to “copy and crush” him. To help train the model, Lorenzo has a smaller team of construction safety pros ask strategic questions of the AI. The trainers input test scenes from the golden data set to the VLM and ask questions that guide the model through the process of breaking down the scene and analyzing it step by step the way an experienced human would. If the VLM doesn’t generate the correct response—for example, it misses a violation or registers a false positive—the human trainers go back and tweak the prompts or inputs. Lorenzo says that rather than simply learning to recognize objects, the VLM is taught “how to think in a certain way,” which means it can draw subtle conclusions about what is happening in an image. Examples of safety risk categories that Safety AI can detect.COURTESY DRONEDEPLOY As an example, Lorenzo says VLMs are much

With our consumer-centric model, California real estate consumers could have saved a total of $9.2 billion in 2020 alone: https://t.co/FvH3vpJOyH

With our consumer-centric model, California real estate consumers could have saved a total of $9.2 billion in 2020 alone: https://t.co/FvH3vpJOyH

The @ocregister provides more coverage on how REX is hindering unfair commissions charged to home buyers: https://t.co/isC2zjMTsW https://t.co/66OXIbO1v9

The @ocregister provides more coverage on how REX is hindering unfair commissions charged to home buyers: https://t.co/isC2zjMTsW https://t.co/66OXIbO1v9

"I am pleased to see REX standing with national and state consumer groups in this case as it reflects our employees’ commitment to disrupting the old anti-consumer model that has dominated real estate

"I am pleased to see REX standing with national and state consumer groups in this case as it reflects our employees’ commitment to disrupting the old anti-consumer model that has dominated real estate for decades." https://t.co/a44Tjbsn9t

"We're suing Zillow and NAR because they are ganging up and trying to stop us from bringing lower fees to consumers," Jack Ryan, chief executive officer of REX: https://t.co/bF6avskcDY

"We're suing Zillow and NAR because they are ganging up and trying to stop us from bringing lower fees to consumers," Jack Ryan, chief executive officer of REX: https://t.co/bF6avskcDY

The latest on REX versus @zillow: https://t.co/NotkGSnWHH

The latest on REX versus @zillow: https://t.co/NotkGSnWHH

Appreciate the coverage from @CNBC and many others on an issue that impacts all Americans: https://t.co/If2KXE0scP

Appreciate the coverage from @CNBC and many others on an issue that impacts all Americans: https://t.co/If2KXE0scP

CEO Jack Ryan: “We believe this litigation will define whether technology will serve and protect Big Brokers and the NAR cartel or whether it will make good on its promise of greater ease, service, tr

CEO Jack Ryan: “We believe this litigation will define whether technology will serve and protect Big Brokers and the NAR cartel or whether it will make good on its promise of greater ease, service, transparency and lower commission fees for consumers.” https://t.co/4xvuRhhDP4

REX Files Antitrust Complaint Against Zillow And National Association Of Realtors: https://t.co/rz17pV8PYz https://t.co/CwJQMpmGpu

REX Files Antitrust Complaint Against Zillow And National Association Of Realtors: https://t.co/rz17pV8PYz https://t.co/CwJQMpmGpu

We believe this litigation will define whether technology will serve and protect Big Brokers and the NAR cartel or whether it will make good on its promise of greater ease, service, transparency and l

We believe this litigation will define whether technology will serve and protect Big Brokers and the NAR cartel or whether it will make good on its promise of greater ease, service, transparency and lower commission fees for consumers.

Register and RSVP to learn how greater competition in real estate can help more consumers realize the American dream: https://t.co/lOa2EiRS4S https://t.co/OmtAm4lalR

Register and RSVP to learn how greater competition in real estate can help more consumers realize the American dream: https://t.co/lOa2EiRS4S https://t.co/OmtAm4lalR

In an industry that has not seen change in decades, REX is using technology to deliver the best service, convenience and savings in real estate: https://t.co/evyTQGpyv8

In an industry that has not seen change in decades, REX is using technology to deliver the best service, convenience and savings in real estate: https://t.co/evyTQGpyv8

@RealEstateCafe Our CEO & Co-Founder Jack Ryan would happily debate @nardotrealtor leadership at #NCPW or any other venue. REX stands with consumers on the need for change on outmoded fees and pra

@RealEstateCafe Our CEO & Co-Founder Jack Ryan would happily debate @nardotrealtor leadership at #NCPW or any other venue. REX stands with consumers on the need for change on outmoded fees and practices in this industry. Let's set it up.

Nestled away in the Sausalito hillside is this one of a kind 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom tropical oasis with picturesque views. The gleaming blue water can be enjoyed from every angle of the home. Not sold

Nestled away in the Sausalito hillside is this one of a kind 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom tropical oasis with picturesque views. The gleaming blue water can be enjoyed from every angle of the home. Not sold just yet? Come it for yourself: https://t.co/ju0ZUpL8uH https://t.co/CDGNMXFFoa

Are Broker Commissions Too High? Jack Ryan chimes in: https://t.co/XgcGxvFdL6

Are Broker Commissions Too High? Jack Ryan chimes in: https://t.co/XgcGxvFdL6