On Tuesday, February 6th, CREW Boston hosted a panel discussion about the ways in which the commercial real estate industry has and can be integrating artificial intelligence into our industry.
Moderated by Nadine Ezzie, founder of real estate consulting firm ezzie + co, the panel included Kaitlin McCarthy, founder of Ionic Development; Amy Korte, President of Arrowstreet; and Kelsey Gauger, VP of Operational Excellence for Suffolk Construction.
After a brief discussion about basic terminology – the definition of AI, basic components of AI, and high-level use cases – the three panelists discussed how each of their respective companies and disciplines were currently using AI and the ways in which they were considering more expansive use in the future. Kelsey described how AI has helped Suffolk markedly reduce the employee time spent in the field, and increased the accuracy, taking space measurements necessary for developing budgets. AI has also contributed to the decreased number of safety incidents at Suffolk work sites by tracking incidents in real time, identifying trends, and developing procedures and protocol to predict potential safety incidents before they happen. As Suffolk considers additional ways in which AI can improve performance, Suffolk has to weigh the costs versus benefits of developing tools in-house or partnering with outside vendors.
AI has helped Arrowstreet develop pitch decks for prospective new clients quickly and to reflect design styles that they have not previously had experience with. This has allowed them to broaden their market reach.
As a small developer, Ionic has to think about ways to increase efficiency from a time and cost perspective. Spending money wisely on AI tools that increase the efficiency with which Ionic can consider development potential of sites, prior to acquisition, has been a key benefit of the use of this technology. AI’s capabilities are only going improve and increase and will do so rapidly. Although employees may worry that AI will eliminate their own job responsibilities, the panel talked about how AI provides an opportunity for these employees to focus on human oriented tasks that AI cannot complete – the thinking and strategizing that is key to our work.
By sharing the perspective of how AI has been integrated in the development, design, and construction worlds, the panel illustrated the ways in which member companies can responsibly use AI in their own disciplines.
