马修·迪翁 加拿大最大的几家上市工程公司正试图淡化人们对人工智能可能颠覆其商业模式的担忧，并辩称人工智能将提升对其服务的需求。
By Mathieu Dion Canada’s largest publicly traded engineering firms are seeking to downplay concerns that artificial intelligence might disrupt their business models, arguing AI will boost demand for their services.
对人工智能影响的担忧已拖累相关公司的估值。截至周一，WSP Global Inc.、AtkinsRealis Group Inc. 和 Stantec Inc. 的股价在过去12个月内分别下跌了32%、13%和34%，这三家公司在美国均拥有庞大的业务。
Fears about AI’s impacts have weighed on valuations, with shares of WSP Global Inc., AtkinsRealis Group Inc. and Stantec Inc. — all of which have large US operations — respectively down 32%, 13% and 34% over the past 12 months as of Monday.
随着收入压缩的担忧逐渐浮现，部分投资者已选择退场。人们担心，由人工智能驱动的生产力提升可能会减少完成任务所需的计费工时，并促使客户压低价格。
Some investors have stepped back as revenue compression worries crept in. The concern is that AI-driven productivity may reduce billable hours for completing tasks and lead clients to push for lower pricing.
Stantec 即将上任的首席执行官苏珊·赖斯博德（Susan Reisbord）周二在纽约举行的彭博加拿大金融峰会上表示，人工智能与其他工具一样，是一种生产力工具，公司早已在使用。
Incoming Stantec Chief Executive Officer Susan Reisbord said Tuesday at the Bloomberg Canadian Finance Conference in New York that AI is a productivity tool like others it’s had for a long time.
“我们无法撤回一座桥梁或一条道路，”她说。“我们肩负着重大责任，必须确保在提供的工作中使用人工智能时万无一失，以保障其使用的安全性。”
“We can’t pull back a bridge or a road,” she said. “We have a big responsibility to be able to use it in the work that we provide by having the belts and suspenders to make sure that it’s a safe use.”
“那么，商业模式是否会发生一些变化？是的，”她解释道，使用人工智能工具同样需要成本。“无论如何想象，我都看不到整个项目价格会因此下降。”
“So could the commercial model change a little bit? Yes,” she said, explaining that using AI tools has a cost too. “I don’t see the price going down by any stretch of the imagination of the total project price.”
AtkinsRealis 首席执行官伊恩·爱德华兹（Ian Edwards）指出了工程师短缺的问题。“因此，人工智能将帮助行业提升产能，以满足对电力和基础设施日益迫切的需求，”他说。
AtkinsRealis CEO Ian Edwards pinpointed the shortage of engineers. “So what AI is going to do is enable more capacity in the industry to deliver more desperate needs for power and infrastructure,” he said.
从积极的一面来看，工程公司也因人工智能而面临机遇，尤其是在数据中心建设方面。
On the upside, engineering firms are also exposed to AI through the data center buildout.
赖斯博德表示，Stantec 预计其基础设施和基于自然的解决方案部门将从中受益，当社区对某些项目存在抵触情绪时，这些解决方案可以使项目“更容易被社区接受”。
Stantec expects benefits for its infrastructure and nature-based solutions divisions, which can make projects “more acceptable” to communities when there’s some pushback, Reisbord said.
AtkinsRealis预计其核能业务将迎来重大发展。该公司已于6月向美国核管理委员会（US Nuclear Regulatory Commission）提交了相关申请，希望获得其“Enhanced Candu 6”核反应堆的认证，并已与美国的一些电力公司和大型企业进行了沟通。
AtkinsRealis foresees a big boost for its nuclear business. It filed in June a notice of intent with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to get certification of its Enhanced Candu 6 nuclear reactor, and has already spoken with US utilities and hyperscalers. Energy demand “is going to outstrip supply,” Edwards said.
爱德华兹（Edwards）表示：“能源需求将超过供应。这是一个挑战，我们必须想办法提升自身能力、提高效率，利用人工智能技术来减少人力需求，从而实现更高效的生产。”WSP公司（该公司在今年早些时候收购了TRC Companies Inc.）在周一的投资者会议上指出，美国正进入一个电力基础设施建设的“超级周期”，这为该公司带来了更多的发展机遇。
“It is a challenge, and we’ve got to find ways to build human capacity, to make ourselves more efficient, to use AI, to reduce the amount of people and make it more efficient.”WSP, which acquired TRC Companies Inc. earlier this year, said during an investor presentation Monday that the US is entering an electric infrastructure “supercycle,” supporting growth opportunities.
该公司表示，新技术使工程师能够更好地应对未来更为复杂的项目，并能够对各种方案进行建模分析。同时，在招标过程中，对数字化服务的需求也在不断增加。
New technologies let its engineers navigate the more complex projects ahead and model options, the firm said. At the same time, demand for digital capabilities is increasing in bids.
WSP首席执行官亚历山大·勒乌鲁（Alexandre L’Heureux）在会议上表示：“对比五年前，我们现在需要提供的数字化服务规模已经发生了巨大变化——存在明显的差距。”
“I look at the size of digital services that we need now to offer compared to where it was just five years ago,” WSP CEO Alexandre L’Heureux said in the presentation. “I see a huge gap, or a big difference.”