A Look Into the Crystal Ball Workshop

The geoprofessional industry is at a crossroads. With a shrinking workforce, increasing retirements, and fewer students entering geoscience and engineering fields, firms are struggling to meet rising service demands. At the same time, automation and artificial intelligence (AI) are transforming industries worldwide, presenting a generational opportunity for geoprofessionals to increase efficiency, productivity, and service quality.

To address this critical challenge, GBA’s 2025 Crystal Ball Workshop (CBW), to be held June 24-25 in Kansas City (Olathe), Kansas, will explore how emerging technologies can help firms bridge workforce gaps and sustain business growth.

CBW Focus: Addressing the impacts of the shrinking geoprofessional workforce, and high demand for services, with automation and artificial intelligence (AI).

CBW Objective: Provide a launchpad for sustained industry-wide action, offering:

• Findings and insights about AI and other automation capabilities and trends.
• Actionable recommendations to address issues related to the shrinking geoprofessional
• Workforce, and high demand for services, using AI and other automation technologies.

Key Topics Include:

• The Workforce Crisis – Understanding labor shortages and increased service demands.
• Emerging Technologies – Exploring AI and automation applications in geoprofessions.
• Opportunities – Leveraging technology to enhance efficiency and improve decision-making.
• Challenges – Overcoming barriers to technology adoption.

Prep Questions

1. Where are you or your organization spending the most time on repetitive tasks?

Think data entry, scheduling, reporting, approvals; anything recurring and rules-based.

2. What processes do you or your organization follow that require multiple handoffs or approvals?

Are there common errors or inconsistencies in your workflows?

3. What systems do you or your organization use that don’t talk to each other?

Which decisions rely on delayed, incomplete, or missing data?

4. In what tasks do you or your organization underutilize valuable talent for low-value work?

Tasks that pull skilled employees away from what they do best.

5. How do we monetize our technology use? What related changes in our business model are needed?

6. What part of automation and AI will require greater human interaction and skill?

7. What changes are needed in academic curriculums to better prepare students for their geoprofessional careers in the age of AI and other automation?

8. What barriers do you, your organization, and our profession have that may inhibit the adoption and implementation of AI and other automation in our work?

Biases, myths, fears?

9. How can we overcome barriers (real or perceived) and facilitate our adoption and implementation of AI and other automation technologies to address our shrinking workforce issues?

GBA Resources

• A Look Inside the Crystal Ball

• The Future In-Focus: Big Data, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence

• Opportunities at the Climate Crisis and Infrastructure Nexus