Navigating the future of property professionals: An AI-enabled paradigm

Abstract

Purpose: The technological disruption from artificial intelligence (AI) within the economy requires intelligent property professionals for tomorrow. This paper proposes that the direction of interaction between AI and tomorrow's property professional, the property graduate, should be AI-empowered rather than AI-directed. Design/methodology/approach: The paper reflects on the growing influence of AI in property combined with literature on technological adoption in the workplace. It proposes a way forward in navigating future decision-making. Findings: An AI-empowered paradigm promotes the importance of industry-specific knowledge to determine factual information in decision-making. In contrast, an AI-directed paradigm leads to over-dominance of the user on pre-specified knowledge available through AI tools that could lead to AI-directed output that carries significant risk for the property industry. Practical implications: Navigating the future requires a paradigm that moves from a computational focus driven predominantly by technological tools to one where tomorrow's professionals have a cognitive focus that leads to AI-enabled property graduates that can apply the correct tools in the right circumstances. Originality/value: This paper reflects on the increasing role that technology and AI have within the property profession and brings to light the importance of learning through experience and the transparent use of AI tools in property.