Advancing Project Management through Artificial Intelligence: A Systematic Review of Capabilities, Applications, and Challenges (2015-2025)

Abstract

The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed project management processes and continues to provide immense opportunities to improve efficiency, decision-making, and results in project execution. In this paper, a systematic literature review was carried out with a view to assessing the extent of AI integration into project management practices through identifying its key functions, possible spheres of application, and issues related to its implementation in different industries. The process of systematic literature review was performed in compliance with the PRISMA guidelines, and 62 scholarly articles, along with industry reports covering the period from 2015 to 2025, were investigated. The review was conducted through the search of four data-bases: Scopus, IEEE Xplore, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, with the help of inclusion and exclusion criteria. After that, the results of the review were collected through manual thematic content analysis. It was found that AI possesses four main capabilities that determine the process of project management innovation: predictive analytics (68%), machine learning (60%), natural language processing (45%), and automation (50%). The analyzed literature revealed risk management to be an essential area of application of AI (70%), while cost estimation and resource allocation accounted for 60% and 55%, respectively. It was also noted that the industries used AI with different degrees of success: IT (80%) and construction (50%). The use of AI in project management is expected to grant the opportunity to make advances in predictive capabilities, manage better utilization of resources, and simplify adminis-trative processes in practice. AI helps project managers concentrate on important aspects of the activities of the organizations they work for. However, the successful use of AI implies that all the necessary measures are taken to address issues related to data quality, ethics, and costs of project implementation. This paper summarizes evidence from 62 studies that indicate the significant impact of AI on project management. Further research has to focus on designing ethical frameworks for the use of AI in practice.