AI promises to serve as the foundation for a whole new generation of proptech capabilities in the years ahead. While multifamily has only scratched the surface in leveraging AI to enhance leasing, there remains great potential in its application in operations as well.
At NMHC’s OPTECH 2022 event, industry leaders sat down during the NextGen AI: Risks and Rewards session to discuss new opportunities and the evolving role of AI in multifamily technology and operations. Featuring Sudip Shekhawat of LeaseLock, Amy Weissberger of Morgan Properties, Stephanie Fuhrman of Entrata, and Adam Demuyakor of Wilshire Lane Capital, the panel explored the risks and rewards of the next generation of AI with the domain of rental housing.
Plenty of challenges stand between multifamily professionals and AI’s limitless potential. In order to reap the benefits without negative consequences, panelists emphasized the importance of understanding its impact on operations.
Stephanie Fuhrman of Entrata pointed out that while AI has been applied in some front-end operations, the industry has yet to understand how it can impact other business decisions and drive better performance. Other panelists agreed that the lack of understanding of the technology is the main contributor to the industry’s hesitancy in leveraging AI across other functions.
To help reframe AI as a term the industry understands and embraces rather than a daunting, elusive buzzword, LeaseLock CTO Sudip Shekhawat suggested replacing ‘artificial’ with ‘augmented’ or ‘assisted,’ as AI helps enhance human intelligence. To unleash the full potential of AI, multifamily needs to make greater strides toward utilizing the wealth of data at its disposal.
While leasing assistants and revenue management applications have now been widely implemented across the industry, as multifamily gains better understanding of the technology, panelists expressed hope that operators will finally push AI past these applications to other back-end processes. The result will be more informed, data-backed decisions that help uncover hidden risks and reduce loss.
For the full recap of the panel discussion, read the article here.
