A Practical Perspective on How AI Is Elevating Strategy, Not Replacing It
The biggest shift with AI isn’t that it can generate content. It’s that it can accelerate strategic thinking.
That’s why Time naming “AI Architects” as its 2025 Person of the Year felt accurate. AI has moved beyond novelty. It’s becoming infrastructure for how modern work gets done.
One of our core principles is to be disruptive; when something starts changing the pace and quality of decision-making, it earns our attention. We’ve been selectively adopting AI tools here at Keyser, and the added efficiency within our team of advocates is already making a significant positive impact on our promise to deliver excellence in every interaction.
Used responsibly, AI is a tool that helps executives get sharper faster, understand risks and evaluate alternative routes even without industry expertise. When this new baseline is paired with a boots-on-the-ground commercial real estate advocate and strategist, your team’s decisions become powerhouse moves.
And in commercial real estate — where decisions are long-term and mistakes are expensive — understanding where you’re going and the opportunity cost of other routes is critical.
How does Keyser use AI?
At Keyser, we treat AI the same way we treat any tool. It has to earn its place.
We’re not using it to replace experience or automate judgment. We’re using it to support the work that happens before decisions are made. Preparation. Analysis. Pattern recognition. Scenario planning.
AI helps our team move faster through the early stages of a problem so more time can be spent on strategy, negotiation, and execution. It allows us to test assumptions, stress scenarios, and surface considerations that might otherwise take longer to uncover.
That matters in commercial real estate, where decisions are long-term and the margin for error is real.
A Tool That Expands Capability, Not Headcount
One of the biggest misconceptions about AI is that it’s about doing less.
In practice, it’s about doing more, better.
At Keyser, AI expands what each team member is capable of delivering. Research is deeper.
Preparation is more thorough. Conversations are more informed. That directly strengthens our ability to advocate for clients.
When our team walks into a negotiation or strategy discussion, they’re thoroughly prepared. Not because AI made the decision, but because it helped sharpen the thinking behind it.
Responsibility Still Sits With People
One of the points raised in Time’s coverage of the AI Architects is the need to wield this technology responsibly.
At Keyser, AI doesn’t replace accountability. It doesn’t make judgment calls. And it doesn’t remove the need for experience. When you work with a Keyser commercial real estate advocate, you can trust that we’re not offloading your strategy onto AI; responsibility still sits squarely with people who understand the market, the risks, and the stakes involved.
The Bottom Line
AI doesn’t change what matters in commercial real estate. At the end of the day, you still need a facility that empowers you to create a seamless customer experience, a location that is fueled by a healthy workforce, and a site that acts as a catalyst to help you fulfil your business’s mission—all at the best price.
Good decisions still come from clear thinking, sound judgment, real-time experience, and a real understanding of a business’s priorities. AI has a place at Keyser’s table, but our team of strategic commercial real estate advocates are still at the head.
For a deeper look at how AI is reshaping commercial real estate markets — from data centers to office and industrial demand — see "The AI Boom and What It Means for Commercial Real Estate"
