In today’s fast-moving commercial real estate landscape, AI isn’t a future concept—it’s already transforming the way teams source opportunities, analyze deals, and make decisions.

In this webinar, ULI NEXT Americas Programming Committee member Nihar Shah discussed how commercial real estate (CRE) professionals can confidently embrace AI to work smarter, stay competitive, and unlock new value across their organizations with CEO and cofounder of HelloData.ai Marc Rutzen.

The conversation opened with a clear message: AI matters because our industry is drowning in data while deals grow more complex and cycles move faster. Traditional, manual approaches just can’t keep up. Those who lean into AI, rather than hesitate, are positioning themselves to move with greater precision, speed, and conviction.

From there, the speakers dove into real, practical examples of how leading firms are already deploying AI today. They highlighted tools that automate time-consuming analysis such as underwriting and rent-roll parsing; predictive models that sharpen forecasting and stress-testing; and platforms that dramatically shorten decision cycles by turning raw data into actionable insights. Just as important, they emphasized the role of strong data governance to ensure the information feeding these tools is clean, reliable, and well-structured.

The panel also addressed the realities of implementation: breaking down data silos, overcoming skepticism, evaluating return on investment, and navigating ethical and regulatory considerations. Their consensus was clear that successful AI adoption isn’t about chasing shiny tools. It’s about aligning people, processes, and technology so teams can amplify, not replace, their expertise.

The conversation closed on an optimistic, forward-looking note. Whether you’re in acquisitions, asset management, development, or operations, AI is quickly becoming a true differentiator. The firms that move beyond the hype and start applying these tools thoughtfully will gain an edge in sourcing opportunities, elevating underwriting accuracy, and operating with greater agility across market cycles.

Three Key Takeaways

• AI is becoming a competitive advantage in commercial real estate: reducing manual work, accelerating underwriting, and giving teams faster, clearer insights to act on opportunities.
• Practical use cases are already delivering value, from rent-roll automation and predictive analytics to streamlined deal sourcing, scenario modeling, and portfolio-level decision support.
• Successful firms focus on people + process + tech, building clean data foundations, training teams, and deploying AI tools that strengthen, not replace, human expertise.

You can view the conversation HERE.