At Expand North Star and GITEX Global 2025, visionary leaders, including Sam Altman and Peng Xiao, explored how countries can move beyond early AI adoption to become AI-native nations. The conversation wasn’t just about technology; it was about transformation. As for those of us in the real estate and proptech industry, the lessons are far-reaching.

Leadership Vision: AI as a Human-Centred Mission

Sam Altman’s reminder that AI is “the most exciting scientific work ever” and the greatest opportunity to improve human life sets the tone for where industries like real estate should be heading. The value of AI isn’t in automating for efficiency alone; it’s in enhancing human experience.

In real estate, this means reimagining how we serve clients, understand markets, and make property decisions. AI should not replace the human agent; it should amplify them: enabling faster research, better data insights, and deeper relationships with clients.

A property agent’s success tomorrow will depend not on how many listings they have, but how intelligently they use data to match people with homes that truly fit their goals.

Accessibility and Everyday Use: AI in Daily Practice

Peng Xiao’s light-hearted example of his wife using ChatGPT to fix a dishwasher carries a bigger message: AI is no longer reserved for experts. It’s becoming part of daily life.

That same accessibility is transforming real estate. Agents are already using AI chatbots to qualify leads, tools like Atlas to generate contracts and booking forms, and predictive analytics to assess neighbourhood potential. As AI becomes more intuitive, these technologies will become as normal as using WhatsApp.

The easier we make AI to use, the faster it becomes part of every property transaction, from discovery all the way to closing the deal.

Trust, Transparency, and Responsible Adoption

Altman and Xiao both highlighted that trust must anchor the AI revolution. For the property sector, this lesson is crucial. Buyers are increasingly wary of misinformation, fake listings, or non-transparent pricing. AI can either solve this or worsen it. This depends on how responsibly we build and deploy it.

Imagine using verified AI systems that automatically validate developer data, update land title information, or flag legal inconsistencies in listings. These aren’t futuristic ideas; they are the next evolution of trusted proptech ecosystems.

Energy, Infrastructure, and the “Cost of Intelligence”

An interesting thread in the discussion was the link between energy and AI. Peng Xiao and Sam Altman agreed that as AI grows, the “cost of intelligence” will one day equal the “cost of energy.”

Why does that matter to property developers or investors? AI infrastructure requires physical infrastructure, including data centres, renewable energy grids, and high-connectivity cities. Nations investing in clean, affordable energy today will also attract tomorrow’s AI companies, tech workers, and digital investments.

For property professionals, this shift means identifying future AI-powered cities, places where infrastructure, energy, and data converge as key hotspots for growth.

In Malaysia, for example, Johor’s data centre boom and digital free zones are early signals of such opportunities.

Ambition and Mindset: Thinking Beyond Incremental

Peng Xiao warned that the biggest risk to AI’s future is a lack of ambition. The same can be said for many property players who view digital tools merely as “marketing support” rather than as a means for strategic transformation.

If we keep thinking incrementally, we’ll only get incremental results. If agents, developers, and platforms adopt an AI-native mindset, leveraging data for informed decision-making and anticipating client needs, the industry will begin to evolve. With truly connected systems, we won’t just improve property services; we’ll redefine them.

What AI-Native Real Estate Might Look Like

Here’s what an AI-native property landscape could mean:

• AI valuation engines that analyse hundreds of data points to provide near-real-time property pricing.
  
• Smart contracts are automatically executed via verified blockchain and AI-driven compliance systems.
  
• Hyper-personalised property recommendations that understand buyer preferences beyond budget: lifestyle, commute, and sustainability goals.
  
• Urban planning models predicting which areas will appreciate next, powered by live demographic, energy, and infrastructure data.
  

These developments are not science fiction. They’re part of a global trajectory toward what Altman called co-evolution between technology and society.

The Takeaway for Real Estate Professionals

All in all, AI’s evolution is forcing every industry, including property, to ask: How can we remain human while becoming intelligent?

For agents, the answer lies in empathy combined with data. For developers, the challenge lies in designing buildings that are not only sustainable but also technologically advanced. For proptech companies, it’s about creating tools that simplify human decisions, not replace them.

The panel at GITEX wasn’t just about AI’s future, it was a mirror showing us what industries must become to stay relevant. As we move into an era of AI-native economies, the real estate world must evolve from selling spaces to building intelligence into every square foot.