Austin Tech Execs Tout How AI Can Streamline CRE Development

Tech executives are calling on Austin real estate developers to embrace artificial intelligence so they can keep up with an industry that is rapidly adopting the new technology.

“The question is no longer whether to invest in AI. The question is where to place your bets and how fast you move,” Kevin Proud, chief operating officer and co-founder of Elevation AI, said at Bisnow’s Austin Age of Innovation and AI Summit. 

AI is still in the early stages of use, but early adopters in commercial real estate are already utilizing the technology for tasks like administrative work, site selection and market forecasting, according to the Texas Real Estate Research Center. Panelists at the June 17 event said AI has the potential for further use in the planning and designing stages of CRE development. 

“We have to always, always be ahead of the curve and be working on these areas that we know are going to create the next iteration of Austin,” Susan Davenport, president and CEO of regional economic partnership Opportunity Austin, said during her keynote address. 

Austin has been ranked the No. 1 innovation hub in the South, home to myriad technology, life sciences, aerospace and advanced manufacturing companies.  Some of the big names with operations there include Apple, Tesla, Samsung and IBM, with much of their science, technology, engineering and math talent pipeline coming from schools like the University of Texas at Austin. 

“Austin is a place where the tech sector is the most rich with talent,” Davenport said, describing it as where “high-tech meets physical world.”  

Matt Isbell, president of tech company EnvelopiQ, said AI eliminates tedious tasks like doing paperwork and sending follow-up emails. The technology can free up administrative employees to focus on more strategic work, he said.

“The way the sausage gets made is going to be a little bit less messy,” Isbell said.  

CRE tasks that used to “take weeks or months to do,” like managing lease agreements or reconciling operating costs, are “very automatable” and can be taken over by AI, said Reeves Davis, president of Technology Solutions at JLL.

AI can also speed up parts of the design stage. Julie Ferguson, president of the Southern Division at Ryan Cos., said the company is “creating a generative design module” for its architectural and engineering process that she hopes will “change how we look at our multifamily side of our business.”

Ferguson said AI has also been helping on the construction side of things, like by helping to ensure worker safety. 

“The predictive analytics on the safety side just really continue to improve,” she said. “The next iteration comes up with five more things that it’s checking, and our safety record continues.”

Ferguson said AI is being used to flag when and where potential construction dangers might be. If welding operations are underway, analytics would note ahead of time who is permitted in the work zone.

She added that this sort of safety guidance is particularly useful at data centers or other massive development sites.

“Because of the scale of those projects, trying to keep an eye on all the people that are in the building and what they are working on is nearly impossible,” Ferguson said.

Despite welcoming AI into CRE development, Ferguson said “robots can't do it all,” and parts of the work, like the construction itself, require human involvement. But she also said there are ways AI might be able to be brought into this phase, such as under the supervision of a project manager or superintendent of a job.

Austin executives said the metro is ready to fully embrace AI in CRE, but some might not be prepared for the changes.

In a 2025 global survey across 15 markets, JLL found that while 87% of companies are expanding their real estate technology budgets because of AI, more than 60% of them were “strategically, organizationally and technically unprepared for scaled AI implementation beyond pilots.” 

But panelists at the event were optimistic about how AI can advance CRE in Austin. 

“It's a revolutionary thing,” said David Franklin, industry principal at Yardi Systems.

It will be a “huge change” that is “fundamental to the way that all businesses across the entire world operate,” he said.

“And we're already seeing that happen. We're just in the beginning part of this ramp-up.”