An area of technological implementation that has always interested me is agriculture.
The reason is simple. I was the first male bloodline in my family since the 1700s to leave agriculture.
During the 1830s riots broke out in parts of southern England as manual labour started being replaced by mechanisation. Horse-drawn ploughs, reapers, binders and threshing machines were able to do the work of farm labourers much faster.
Yet new jobs were created.
Someone had to breed, train and care for the horses. Valuable land had to be set aside to grow food for the horses. Blacksmiths and cartwrights adapted their skills to build and maintain the new equipment.
Then the horse itself began to be replaced by the steam engine.
John Fowler, one of Britain’s most successful agricultural engineers, developed steam ploughing. This involved two steam engines positioned at opposite ends of a field, with a plough pulled backwards and forwards using steel ropes.
The technology was expensive and specialised. Teams of four or five men would travel from farm to farm, often living in caravans pulled behind the steam engines.
Again, jobs disappeared, but new jobs emerged.
Engineers had to design the machines. Skilled workers had to build them. Teams of operators had to run them.
Growing up, my father used to tell stories about the steam engine and threshing machine arriving at the farm. Every man had a specific job to perform in order to make the operation work.
Whilst steam power was becoming widespread, the first tractors were starting to appear.
The early uptake was relatively slow, but by the late 1920s lighter and cheaper tractors were becoming available. During the 1930s the tractor, as we recognise it today, became established across agriculture. They were cheaper than steam engines which meant farmers themselves could purchase them.
Since then there have been many refinements and technological advances, perhaps the most significant being the three-point linkage and, more recently, driverless tractors.
So what happened to employment?
The 1851 census recorded approximately 1.46 million agricultural labourers in a population of around 20 million people.
By 1951, approximately one million people were still employed in agriculture, but only around 410,000 were labourers.
Many traditional jobs had disappeared.
However, new occupations had emerged. Agricultural machinery operators, engineers, mechanics, machine manufacturers and specialist contractors all became part of the industry.
Technology had changed the nature of agricultural work.
It had not removed the need for people; it had caused shifts in roles and professions.
I believe AI will follow a similar pattern.
To understand why, we need to look at what AI is actually good at.
AI excels at analysing data, identifying patterns and making predictions based on the information it has been trained on.
Anything where information can be gathered in a structured and meaningful way is likely to see the greatest impact.
For surveying, this could include analysing planning application data, identifying geographical trends, reviewing insurance claims information, recognising common building defects from photographs and assisting with report production.
It is easy to imagine a future where a house buyer enters details about a property, uploads photographs and receives guidance generated from geological databases, insurance claims data and models trained on common building defects.
In many cases, the software may identify potential concerns to a homeowner even before a surveyor ever becomes involved.
In fact, early signs of this are already appearing. Homeowners are taking survey reports, running them through general AI systems and asking for summaries and explanations before seeking further advice online.
Many surveyors may view this as a high-risk approach.
However, it is worth remembering that many property purchases already proceed based solely on a mortgage valuation or with no survey at all.
So, will AI replace the building surveyor?
In my opinion, no.
What it will do is change the role of the surveyor.
The surveyor of the future may spend less time gathering information and more time interpreting it.
Less time searching for data and more time applying professional judgement.
Less time producing routine outputs and more time helping clients understand risk and make informed decisions.
Just as farming did not disappear when the horse was replaced, surveying is unlikely to disappear because of AI.
The tools will change.
The role will evolve.
And those who learn how to work alongside the technology will probably benefit most.
First published 12th June 2026