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AI arguably presents the greatest opportunities and risks of our time: How will it reshape the way we live and work, and improve our efficiency without losing judgment, context, and nuance? AI is changing the foundation of every industry, including commercial real estate (CRE). From growing data centers and energy infrastructure to site selection, investment, and development strategies; the physical side of our industry is rapidly changing. However, thats just one piece of the puzzle being reshaped by AI. New technological innovations promise industry transformation and while theres no question that AI based tools are changing behaviors and outcomes, were focusing on one question: How will AI realistically shape the near-term future of CRE? To explore this, I sat down with our chief information officer, Martin Jepil, who joined Avison Young in 2021 from Hewlett Packard. Having worked extensively outside our industry, his experience allows him to break through legacy approaches and cultivate transformative thinking. Mark Rose: Looking at the capabilities of generative AI, I see a changing balance between the tasks done by people and those augmented by AI. This shift isnt just an incredible opportunity; its a necessary move to keep pace. How do you see AI changing our industry? Martin Jepil: With the ability to process various databases, AI models can create connections and identify patterns that humans cannot see as quickly. For CRE, this provides two overarching opportunities: improved productivity and knowledge. With the potential to decrease the time intensity of projects, AI will increase the number of opportunities that can be handled by our teams. We will have more time and capacity to dedicate to differentiating ourselves and delivering beyond our goals. Generative AI also offers potential knowledge gains. Does traffic in your office gravitate towards a specific workspace? Are there cyclical lulls in energy demand? Traditionally, answering these questions involves a time-intensive cross-referencing of both quantitative and qualitative data sources. AI will simplify these workflows and improve the insights delivered to clients around the location and performance of an asset. Rose: What is your future vision as it relates to AI and how do you foresee the technology/IT roadmap taking shape at real estate advisory firms? Jepil: Alongside data management, some of the most powerful uses of AI are in summarization, translation, and deep research. As an industry rooted in written, unstructured data, these AI applications are increasingly important. An AI driven transformation will allow our teams to do more innovating, advising, and consulting beyond traditional transactional roles. Instead of being bogged down by routine tasks, theyll focus on activities that make a larger impact on the built environment. Our company is already a fully cloud-native organization, allowing us to be nimble and agile. Our next step is to become AI-native. That means embedding prompt-based features and automating tasks using machine learning and generative AI capabilities. This allows us to shift our peoples focus to high-value work such as business development, service delivery, and client engagement, while deepening our technologys focus on predictive analytics, scenario modeling, and, ultimately, delivering better decision-making. Rose: As we continue to adopt and integrate this new workflow, risks and challenges will arise. What are some of the greatest challenges around adopting AI technology in a meaningful way? And how can we use the skillsets of our teams to address these challenges? Jepil: In our industry and beyond, the biggest hurdle continues to be quality of data. While there is a vast network of data, it is not structured or indexed in a way that allows us to easily derive value. Beyond what we consider to be traditional CRE data, AI can facilitate the integration of non-traditional data sources. Theres a wealth of untapped resources across the internet that might tell you more about a property. Demographic, building, and organizational data are significant unstructured data sources. The new patterns identified by AI will be even more valuable when there is access to both traditional and non-traditional data sources. The first steps should focus on integrationfiguring out how to facilitate communication between database infrastructure and sorting through unstructured data, such as sale and lease comps, property listings, and planning codes. This infrastructure must be organized properly to train generative AI. While this may seem like a behemoth challenge, it is a problem that AI can help to solve. Through data extraction and reading unstructured data, AI models are helping aid the integration process. Like any technology platform, AI is a tool that will enhance productivity and knowledge growth. For instance, when power tools were introduced in the construction industry, they didnt eliminate the need for builders. Instead, they made builders more efficient, safer, and capable of handling more complex projects. AI in CRE is much the same. It is not here to replace brokers, developers, or property managers but to give them more powerful tools. Above all else, AI will provide advisors with better tools to analyze data at scale, spot risks, and automate routine tasks so they can focus on the human insights, relationships, and decisions that ultimately drive value. Final thoughts Those who embrace AI thoughtfully and strategically will thrive. Thoughtful strategy includes having a vision for how peoples daily roles evolve and determining the viability of different AI functions. Employees who embrace AI will gain a deeper understanding of how people, businesses, and markets more generally impact CRE. As a CRE firm, setting a thoughtful strategy includes choosing the right AI tools and building the appropriate IT infrastructure to unlock that promise. Our ambition? To lead in predictive analytics with a commitment to delivering outcome-based insights that combine real-time, platform-generated data with human interpretation and expertise, assisted by GenAI. We believe that people, not technology alone, will be the key differentiator in the age of AI. The ultimate success of a built asset is shaped by the needs and satisfaction of its occupants. There will always be our priority to get boots on the ground, embed ourselves in projects, andabove allanticipate human needs. Mark E. Rose is chair and CEO of Avison Young.
Category:
E-Commerce
Shares of StubHub Holdings (NYSE: STUB) slipped in their long-awaited market debut on Wednesday, signaling an end to a recent streak of tech-focused companies whose stock prices jumped on their first day of trading. The ticket sales platform closed at $22.15 a share, down from its IPO price of $23.50 a share, which was announced by the company on Tuesday. That first-day stumble is in contrast to recent listings from design software firm Figma, crypto exchange Bullish, stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group, and others that saw their shares jump by double digits when they debuted. StubHub, which was founded 25 years ago and had been planning an IPO for years, had already priced its shares at the midpoint of their targeted range, whereas many of the companies that went public this year priced their shares above their targeted range. First-day gains or losses are not necessarily predictive of how a stock will perform over the long term (Figma stock is now down more than 54% from its August highs), but the positive headlines and investor interest they generate can influence the IPO market more broadly. Some companies that had postponed their IPOs in the wake of tariff-related economic uncertainty earlier this year went ahead with their plans as markets stabilized and investors cashed in on high-profile listings. Klarna Group, for example, went public earlier this month after reportedly getting gun shy as President Trump announced his so-called Liberation Day tariff regime in April. The flexible payments company saw its shares rise 15% on their first trading day, closing at $45.80 after being priced at $40. Where the IPO market goes from here is anyone’s guess. Last week was the busiest for new stock listings in four years.
Category:
E-Commerce
After seven years at SNL, Ego Nwodim announced last Friday that she is leaving the show. And while cast members rarely get a chance to say goodbye to their fans from the SNL stage, Nwodim got her flowers at the Fast Company Innovation Festival, where the audience gave her wild applause. Nwodim joined SNL in 2018 and quickly became a standout performer. She’s had many viral sketches. Nwodim was memorable as “Lisa From Temecula,” making Pedro Pascal laugh so much he could barely continue the sketch. There was also the “Mid-Day News” sketch, in which newscasters split up along racial lines, keeping score about which communities commit more crimes. It takes time for cast members to get their groove, Nwodim says. They go through an adjustment period when they blend their personal brand of humor to the show’s style. “SNL’s an institution, and the show has its own voice,” she says. “So your job as a comedian coming to SNL is to figure out what I want to do for this particular audience.” From left: Mark Wilson, Karl Lieberman, Ego Nwodim and Jeff Staple speak onstage during the Fast Company Innovation Festival 2025 on September 17, 2025 in New York City. [Photo: Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Fast Company] She may be best remembered for appearing on Weekend Update as the character “Miss Eggy,” who wants to make her case that she should be the stand-up comedian at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner because she would only make apolitical jokes about food. The sketch made news because during a call-and-response moment, she says, “Men don’t know . . .” and the audience shouted in unison, “shit!” The problem is that the FCC could fine the show for allowing an expletive to be said on the air. “I really did not expect the audience to do that,” she recalls. “The joke is supposed to be that I’m performing with such hubris that I think people would know my silly little catchphrases, even though I’m a nobody. I promise, if we had known that’s how the audience would have responded, we wouldn’t have been able to do it.” Nwodim’s departure came as a surprise. NBC had revealed the cast members that would be returning for Season 51, and Nwodim appeared to be on that list. But Nwodim made the decision to step out on her own. And she’s eager to find new ways to showcase her talents as a comedian and actor. “SNL is always meant to be a stepping stone,” she says. “There’s so many ideas I haven’t had time to create, and I’m looking forward to doing that. Things like directing and writing in a different capacity.” We’re already getting a glimpse of Nwodim’s post-SNL life. At the Calvin Klein New York Fashion Week show, she interviewed celebrities like Emily Ratajkowski and Chris Briney on the red carpet. She’s also in a new ad for the gym chain Solidcore. But at heart, Nwodim is a comedian. And over the last seven years, one of her best lessons at SNL has been finding her authentic self. “There was a time when I tried to separate what I actually thought was funny with what I thought other people would find funny,” she says. “But the things that seem to work best are the things that I say with my friends at lunch or over the phone. Miss Eggy came out of a voice that I did with my friend Ashley. I’ve realized that this is the version of me that people want to see.”
Category:
E-Commerce
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