Only 29% of S&P 500 companies could put a number on what AI actually did for their business this earnings season, and most of those numbers were about cutting costs, not making more money. Bisnow’s own reporting found 92% of CRE firms are running AI pilots right now, but just 5% say they’ve hit most of their goals.

Reeves Davis, President of Technology Solutions at JLL, thinks the industry is asking the wrong question. At Dreamforce, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei argued that the real value ahead isn’t new AI capability — it’s getting the tools that already exist into wider use.

Davis sees that playing out inside the brokerage business, too: as AI makes it cheap for clients to build their own tools, JLL is betting its edge is still the expertise and data behind those tools, not the tools themselves. His answer comes down to one idea: someone still has to be the “throat to choke” when the outcome doesn’t hold up, no matter who built the tool.

Davis joins First Draft Live this week to talk through where client self-service actually threatens the brokerage model, where it doesn’t, and what JLL is willing to bet the difference is worth.

_____

First Draft Live returns for Season 2, bringing with it a continued commitment to compelling conversations with commercial real estate’s leading voices. Inspired by our daily newsletter, The First Draft, Bisnow’s Editor-in-Chief / Chief Content Officer Mark Bonner takes viewers behind the scenes on what’s shaping everything from capital trends and policy changes to sector-specific activity, in discussion with the people making it happen.

We’ve hosted some of the industry’s top voices — and there’s more to come. Bring your questions, join the conversation, or catch the replay within 24 hours if you can’t attend live. Past episodes can be found here.

Interested in speaking? Contact our Vice President of Production, Elizabeth Baker, at liz.baker@bisnow.com.