Why artificial intelligence in the workplace won't be 'like anything we've ever seen'
Richard Mize The Oklahoman October 20, 2023
EDMOND — Get ready for AI co-workers, digital twins in the workplace and "smart everything" — meaning every device, most humans and everything else is tied together via the internet.
It will be reality sooner than later, said Hart Brown, CEO of Future Point of View, a technology strategy firm in Edmond. He talked about artificial intelligence in business as a keynote speaker at the recent Commercial Real Estate Summit at the University of Central Oklahoma.
Brown looked beyond the real estate business in explaining what is and what's to come from the "biggest driver" in technology —"and not like anything we've ever seen."
His talk was timely, and maybe tardy, for people in real estate and other kinds of business, said summit organizer David Chapman, a developer, real estate agent, professor of real estate at UCO and chairman of the Oklahoma Real Estate Commission.
"The subject of AI is one that is literally sneaking up on people and they seem to think it doesn’t apply to them," Chapman said. "This seems to be the case with most of us in real estate. The fact is it is already shaping the industry, right before our eyes."
Expert: Jobs market is pushing adoption of artificial intelligence
Brown said artificial intelligence is booming partly because of low unemployment and employers' needs. AI was hardly known outside of tech circles and science fiction until the debut last year of OpenAI's ChatGPT, a generative AI that can create text, graphics, images and videos almost instantaneously.
Hybrid work and the power shift from employers to employees threw some fuel on the AI fire, he said, noting that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that in 2022 people spent 7.9 hours a day working at work, on average, but just 5.6 hours a day working from home.
AI is a solution for making up lost productivity, he said. It won't be hard. Already, there are about a billion AI-connected devices on the planet compared with 3.2 billion employed, he said, and by next year, the globe will have more AI devices than people.
Like Call Annie, an AI avatar app he introduced on a big screen for a conversation. "She" is so like a human in interaction with actual human beings on a video call that "people don't want to hang up" on her," Brown said. "They think it's rude."
Artificial intelligence: a snowball effect leading to a domino effect
Digital employment of avatars like Annie, and AI doing work tasks behind the scenes as Mercy's hospitals and clinics just introduced, are creating a snowball effect that is leading to a domino effect, said Brown, who is Future Point of View's security and risk practice lead.
"What will happen to everything else?"
He pointed to the advent of tractors replacing draft animals on farms. The turning point was just after World War II. The number of farms started to plummet even as farm production increased, and those who clung to the old ways disappeared into farm consolidation.
"Will we need the same numbers of businesses we have today? Expect significant consolidation," Brown said. "If I don't need so many employees, I don't need to meet employee demands. The more AI comes into play, the more power shifts to the employer."
By 2030, quantum computing, 6G wireless, and AI that can learn?
Brown looked ahead just seven years.
Artificial intelligence, which can respond, as it evolves into AGI, artificial general intelligence, which can learn, connected to quantum computing, projected to be commercialized by 2027, and combined with 6G wireless technology, expected by 2030, will lead to computing speed "250 million times faster than the fastest computer (now) on the planet," Brown said.
Weak governance "over this thing" is worrisome, he acknowledged. Human need to be in control of AI, he said, noting that earlier this year an open letter from scientists cautioned the world, asking for a pause in research — presumably the one published by the Future of Life Institute.
Others, though, advised "moving as fast as we can," he said.
In real estate, the most "hyperconnected" space will be the most valuable
For commercial property, Brown said, it will all mean "massive change" no matter how many people work at work. For example, For example, he said, 5G wireless tech requires 10 square feet of space per device; 6G needs just 1 square foot.
Such "hyperconnected" space, ready to be used and experienced both physically and digitally at the same time, will fetch more return per square foot whether for sale or for lease, he said.
Aside from the characteristics of property itself, AI already is changing real estate as a business "right before our eyes," Chapman said. "I think we will see the most significant change in appraisal, mortgage, brokerage and title work.
"Anything that is dependent upon any events that happened in the past, such as transactions, are suspects to be used in AI applications. The very nature of an appraisal uses previous transactions to forecast values. AI looks back very efficiently and interpolates, or forecasts the future, pretty accurately."
He added, "Also, research and planning is being impacted for marketing purposes to cut costs and expedite customer sales with brokerages. It will be used in mortgage the same, only to predict risk in loan portfolios and even down to individuals."
Is AI advancing too far, too fast?
Chapman said he wasn't particularly worried about AI advancing too much too fast.
"I tell my students, and anyone that will listen, 'It is never as good as you think it is, and it is never as bad as you think it is.' I think this applies to AI. It will be used to make tasks more efficient, but in the end we are humans and struggle with implementing technology," he said.
He added, "At the end of the day, I am very excited with the technology that is coming with AI and the possibility for it to solve many societal problems in medical, homelessness, and affordable/attainable housing. I guess I am reserved when it comes to the value we will receive, but I am certainly not afraid of any destruction that it will cause."
Senior Business Writer Richard Mize has covered housing, construction, commercial real estate and related topics for the newspaper and Oklahoman.com since 1999. Contact him at rmize@oklahoman.com. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, Real Estate with Richard Mize. You can support Richard's work, and that of his colleagues, by purchasing a digital subscription to The Oklahoman. Right now, you can get 6 months of subscriber-only access for $1.