COLUMNS
Incorporating Responsible AI into Real Estate Technology: Best Practices
Vijay Anand Vice President of AI MRI Software
Solon, OH 44139 www.mrisoftware.com vijay.anand@mrisoftware.com
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the real estate industry, from automating tasks and creating efficiencies to enhancing customer service and improving retention. However, AI also comes with challenges and risks, such as ethical dilemmas, bias, privacy breaches, inaccurate data and liability issues. Commercial real estate (CRE) firms and proptech providers must adopt a “Responsible AI Framework” to ensure their AI products are trustworthy, fair, transparent and accountable. At MRI Software, we’ve established such a framework, which resembles those of software behemoths. It is rooted in five principles: Accountability, Fairness and Inclusivity, Transparency, Reliability and Safety, and Privacy and Security.
Accountability: We hold ourselves and our AI systems accountable for the outcomes and impacts of our products. It is not the machine or the algorithm; it is the human, such as the product owner, AI scientist or the reviewer, who is accountable for that output. We design and evaluate our AI models and data with human oversight and review, providing mechanisms for feedback and redress. For example, MRI Contract Intelligence, an AI-powered lease abstraction tool, allows users to review, edit and validate extracted data before exporting or integrating it with other systems.
Fairness and Inclusivity: Our AI products should avoid unjust impacts on people; they should benefit all individuals and communities across cultures and societies.
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AI-powered tenant screening tools should assess applicants based on a comprehensive set of non-discriminatory criteria, ensuring a fair and equitable process for all potential tenants. This helps mitigate biases and promotes a more inclusive real estate market.
Transparency: We provide
clear and comprehensible explanations of how our AI products work, how they use and process data and how they make decisions. Transparency is critical in AI-driven valuation and market analysis tools. Any “explainable AI tooling” incorporated into one’s software can provide this transparency or link clearly to source systems and data. Valuation models, for instance, provide clear insights into how property values are determined, including the factors considered and their weight in the final assessment.
Safety and Reliability: We ensure that our AI products function consistently, accurately and securely, without causing harm or disruption.
Although our AI models aren’t designed to be dangerous, they must nonetheless be built with proper inputs and controls in place. For example, predictive maintenance software utilizing AI to analyze data from IoT devices and sensors within buildings can foresee maintenance needs before they become critical issues.
Security and Privacy: We respect and protect the privacy and security of our clients and users, as well as their data. We comply with relevant laws and regulations, and we follow best practices for data governance and protection. Furthermore,
we do not collect, use or share data without consent or authorization. In real estate, where vast amounts of sensitive data are processed, companies should follow similar data management and governance practices. AI technology developed or used by companies should have robust encryption and access control mechanisms, ensuring that personal and financial information remains protected against unauthorized access and breaches, and that it isn’t used for building foundational models or exposed unintentionally. Incorporating these principles into AI-based software is easier if you follow two simple steps: 1. Require software development teams who build AI-based systems and product owners who buy them to be held accountable for the selection and choice. They should ask the right questions before making decisions. An AI checklist is always helpful. 2. If you are using a software development platform like Jira or AzureDevOps, set up templates that align with the “responsible AI” framework whenever an AI feature is being developed or integrated. Such templates prompt teams to make the framework a part of their work. By focusing on the responsible AI framework, real estate firms can harness the power of AI to drive innovation while ensuring the technology is used in a way that benefits all stakeholders and upholds the highest ethical standards. The results are greater efficiencies, lower costs and a promising future for the industry.
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