Over the last two decades, there has been a paradigm shift in geotechnical engineering driven by advances in sensing, communication, and data-driven techniques. These advancements enhanced the safety and reliability of geotechnical infrastructure through real-time monitoring and automated decision-making. In recent times, Large Language Models (LLMs) have emerged as advanced data-driven techniques contributing to automated risk assessment of geotechnical infrastructure. LLMs are advanced deep learning models widely used to solve complex numerical problems, analyze large volumes of data, and generate human language. This paper presents a critical review of the application of LLM in geotechnical engineering. The integration of LLMs into geotechnical engineering has demonstrated significant advances in slope stability analysis, bearing capacity computation, numerical analysis, soil–structure interaction, and underground infrastructure. By summarizing the latest research findings and practical applications, this research paper underscores the potential of LLMs to advance and automate various processes in geotechnical engineering. The findings presented in this paper not only provide insights into the current LLM-based geotechnical practices but also emphasize the instrumental role that LLM can play in advancing geotechnical engineering, ultimately ensuring a safer and more sustainable future. Lastly, this paper highlights the different LLM capabilities which can be used to empower geotechnical engineers.

Soil suction is a crucial factor affecting the hydraulic and mechanical property of unsaturated soils, playing an important role in geotechnical, geoenvironmental, and hydrological engineering applications such as slope stability, foundation design and irrigation planning. Conventionally, measuring and modeling soil suction and its associated curves like Soil Water Characteristic Curve (SWCC) and Soil Water Retention Curve (SWRC) require extensive, time-consuming tests in the laboratory. Recent progress in Machine Learning (ML) offers powerful as well as data-driven and reliable alternatives ways that can enhance the efficiency and accuracy of suction-related predictions across a wide range of soil conditions. This study aims to cover the current state of the art research on the integration of ML techniques into the prediction and analysis of soil suction behavior. Studies utilized various algorithms including Random Forest (RF), Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Multi-Expression Programming (MEP), K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), and AdaBoost (AB) to predict soil suction. These models demonstrated high predictive performance (R² > 0.90 in majority cases) based on soil parameters which can be easily evaluated like soil texture, bulk density, climate parameters, and remotely sensed data. Overall, this study covers the understanding of the current research gap related to SWCC and SWRC using different data driven and ML techniques.