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Teleo co-founder and CEO Vinay Shet discusses the potential impact of artificial intelligence on manufacturing and construction jobs on “The Claman Countdown.”

FIRST ON FOX – Artificial intelligence has entered the construction industry, and early adopters say the efficiencies and cost-cutting measures will revolutionize the $10 trillion sector of the global economy for the better.

Supply chain and building material software company DigiBuild has been using OpenAI's ChatGPT to bolster its program for months, and is set to unveil the results at an event in Miami on Wednesday evening.

DigiBuild, a supply chain and building material software company, has been using ChatGPT for months.

But ahead of the announcement, DigiBuild CEO Robert Salvador gave FOX Business an exclusive sneak peek of how the powerful AI tool has improved efficiency and slashed costs for the firm's clients, and he says the technology will be "market changing."

The construction industry is still dogged by the high material costs and supply chain woes brought on by the pandemic, and DigiBuild's software aims to help developers and contractors save money and improve their schedules. The help of AI has provided a remarkable boost to that end.

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To the company's knowledge, DigiBuild is the first to introduce ChatGPT into the construction supply chain, and the firm has some inside help. The building software firm is backed by major investors, including Y Combinator – which trained OpenAI CEO Sam Altman – and has an exclusive Slack channel with OpenAI that allows experts to build together.

Construction workers are shown with the Manhattan skyline and Empire State Building behind them in Brooklyn, New York City, on Jan. 24, 2023. (Ed Jones / AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

DigiBuild has been around five years and has automated the job of sifting through suppliers to find materials and working out scheduling. Now, what used to take a team of humans hundreds of labor hours using Excel spreadsheets, notebooks and manual phone calls has been reduced to a matter of seconds with the help of language learning models.

"ChatGPT has taken us to the next level," Salvador said. "Supersonic."

AI DATA LEAK CRISIS: NEW TOOL PREVENTS COMPANY SECRETS FROM BEING FED TO CHATGPT

"Instead of spending multiple hours probably getting a hold of maybe five or six suppliers, ChatGPT can find 100 of them and even automate outreach and begin communications with those 100 suppliers and say, 'Hey, we're DigiBuild. We need to find this type of door, can you provide a quote and send it back here?'" he said. "We can talk to 100 suppliers in one minute versus maybe a handful in a couple hours."

DigiBuild CEO Robert Salvador says ChatGPT has taken the company “supersonic.”

The CEO offered a real-world example of a job where material costs were literally slashed by more than half using the new technology.

One of DigiBuild's clients, VCC Construction, needed closet shelving for a project in Virginia, and the builder could only find one quote for $150,000 with limited availability. With the click of a button, DigiBuild was able to find a vendor in the Midwest that provided the shelving and delivered it within weeks for $70,000.

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Salvador says to imagine those results for a $500 million job or across the industry. He expects AI technology to become widely adopted.

"Before companies like us, the construction industry was still early in its digital transformation – they were late to the party," he told FOX Business. But now, "It's very much going all in on that, finally."

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Politics

Trump signs resolution killing IRS DeFi broker rule

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Trump signs resolution killing IRS DeFi broker rule

Trump signs resolution killing IRS DeFi broker rule

US President Donald Trump on April 10 signed a joint Congressional resolution overturning a Biden-era rule that requires decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols to report to the country’s tax authority, the Internal Revenue Service.

The rule would have required DeFi platforms, such as decentralized exchanges, to file their gross proceeds from crypto sales and include information on those involved in the transactions.

Trump was widely expected to sign the bill, as White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks said in March that the president would support killing the measure.

This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.

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Environment

This electric excavator has battery swap tech that lets it recharge in minutes [update]

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This electric excavator has battery swap tech that lets it recharge in minutes [update]

The electric construction equipment experts at XCMG just released a new, 25 ton electric crawler excavator ahead of bauma 2025 – and they have their eye on the global urban construction, mine operations, and logistical material handling markets.

UPDATE: telematics announcement.

Powered by a high-capacity 400 kWh lithium iron phosphate battery capable of delivering up to 8 hours of continuous operation, the XE215EV electric excavator promises uninterrupted operation at a lower cost of ownership and with even less downtime than its diesel counterparts.

XCMG is delivering on part of that reduced downtime promise with the lower maintenance and easier repair needs of electric equipment, and delivering on the rest of it with lickety-quick DC fast charging that can recharge the machine’s massive battery in 1.5-2 hours … but that’s not the slick bit. The XCMG XE125EV can be powered up without leaving the job site thanks to its BYD battery swap technology.

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We first covered XCMG and its battery swap technology back in January, and covered similar battery-swap tech being developed by MOOG Construction offshoot ZQUIP, as well – but while XCMG’s battery tech has been in production for several years, it’s still not widely known about in the West (even within the industry).

XCMG showed off its latest electric equipment at the December 2024 bauma China, including an updated version of its of its 85-ton autonomous electric mining truck that features a fully cab-less design – meaning there isn’t even a place for an operator to sit, let alone operate. And that’s too bad, because what operator wouldn’t want to experience an electric truck putting down 1070 hp more than 16,000 lb-ft of torque!?

Easy in, easy out

XCMG battery swap crane; via Etrucks New Zealand.

The best part? All of the company’s heavy equipment assets – from excavators to terminal tractors to dump trucks and wheel loaders – all use the same 400 kWh BYD battery packs, Milwaukee tool style. That means an equipment fleet can utilize x number of vehicles with a fraction of the total battery capacity and material needs of other asset brands. That’s not just a smart use of limited materials, it’s a smarter use of energy.

You can check out all the XE215EV’s specs at this tear sheet, and get an in-person look at the Chinese company’s latest electric excavator this week in Munich, Germany.

Telematics announcement at bauma

XCMG showcases green, smart tech at bauma 2025; via XCMG.

Earlier today, XCMG launched its next-generation Xrea Global Telematics Platform, integrating IoT, big data, cloud computing, and AI to enable what it’s caling, “seamless cross-border fleet management.”

The new telematics platform supports a dozen languages via PC and mobile interfaces, and offers real-time diagnostics, predictive maintenance, and data-driven optimization of both the vehicle and the vehicle’s batteries, empowering equipment managers and fleet operators to track fleets across town, or across time zones.

“XCMG remains committed to advancing engineering technology to empower a sustainable future. Our mission is to deliver efficient, intelligent, and eco-friendly lifecycle solutions for global clients,” said Mr. Yang Dongsheng, Chairman of XCMG Group and XCMG Machinery. “Today, 19% of our product portfolio comprises green innovations under our ‘Green Mountain’ new energy line, with full electrification across all series underway.”

SOURCE | IMAGES: XCMG; via PR Newswire.

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Environment

Tesla (TSLA) is having a terrible month, and it’s only April 10th!

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Tesla (TSLA) is having a terrible month, and it's only April 10th!

On today’s troubling episode of Quick Charge, we explore all the troubles befalling Tesla (and TSLA stock) in the month April – with top executives fleeing the ship, demand plummeting, sales slipping, government incentives at home and abroad under threat, and a raft of receipts brought on by an OpenAI lawsuit hitting the brand, it’s already a bad month for Elon … and there’s still 20 more days to go!

None of this even touches on the $43 million “backlogged” rebate scandal Tesla’s facing in Canada that’s being blamed for people’s negative attitudes about the brand (ha!) or the fact that neither the long-promised Roadster 2.0 or the Tesla Semi will see production anytime this year, either.

The word you’re looking for when you think of Tesla these days is, “cooked.”

Prefer listening to your podcasts? Audio-only versions of Quick Charge are now available on Apple PodcastsSpotifyTuneIn, and our RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

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New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (and sometimes Sunday). We’ll be posting bonus audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news.

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