Real estate investors focus on AI for operational efficiency, but its largest financial impact will be on the underlying assets. AI will fundamentally alter property values by changing work patterns and residential demand, an effect that dwarfs any potential operational savings from automating management.

The contrarian view on AI is to avoid layoffs. A larger team, fully equipped with AI tools, will create vastly more output, outflanking leaner competitors who cut staff. The future competitive advantage is not just efficiency, but sheer production volume.

The fundamental economic shift is not just job automation but an inversion of roles. AI, as pure intelligence, will become the employer, hiring humans as contractors for physical tasks it cannot perform, like visiting a warehouse or collecting brochures. Intelligence becomes a cloud commodity, while physical presence becomes the service.

While AI firms are leasing office space now, the widespread adoption of AI will likely reduce the need for office workers across many industries. This long-term trend of job displacement is expected to create far more vacancy than the current leasing from AI companies fills.

Contrary to the popular job-loss narrative, companies heavily using AI are growing faster and hiring more people to manage increased demand. Studies from Wharton and hiring data from platforms like Indeed show that AI tools create leverage, enabling new businesses and expanding existing ones, thus increasing the overall need for human workers in new or adapted roles.

Contrary to the belief that AI will reduce overall headcount, it will cause a significant role shift. Process-heavy G&A functions like marketing and HR will shrink, but the need for AI-savvy technical resources to build new systems and sales resources to sell superior products will increase.

The idea that AI will enable billion-dollar companies with tiny teams is a myth. Increased productivity from AI raises the competitive bar and opens up more opportunities, compelling ambitious companies to hire more people to build more product and win.

Economist Paul Osterman argues that while AI's long-term effect on job numbers is speculative, its immediate impact is clear. It introduces significant staffing uncertainty for firms, creating a greater incentive to rely on flexible, non-committal "disposable" workers rather than permanent employees.

Instead of competing in the crowded data center space, the firm invests in less obvious beneficiaries of the AI trend. This includes industrial real estate for advanced manufacturing and essential infrastructure like power and fiber that supports data centers, offering a better risk-adjusted entry point.