C
ayman Seagraves, a leading expert in integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into the real estate and finance sectors, is driving innovation with his research and academic publications. As an assistant professor of finance at The University of Tulsa's Collins College of Business, Seagraves recognized AI's transformative potential in 2022 with the launch of ChatGPT.
He immediately began exploring applications for real estate, noting the technology's fluency and flexibility. Today, the commercial real estate AI market is projected to reach $732 billion by 2028, growing at 34% annually. Tasks such as automated report writing, interactive market analyses, and AI-powered agents that deliver personalized investment recommendations are revolutionizing the industry.
Seagraves predicts that 2025 will be the year of AI agents, autonomous software entities that perceive their environment, plan multistep workflows, and execute actions iteratively toward a goal. These AI agents represent a fundamental shift from passive tools to active participants in real estate transactions, enabling tasks such as monitoring markets overnight, flagging properties matching specific investment criteria, and preparing preliminary underwriting.
Research by International Data Corporation shows that every dollar spent on generative AI returns $3.70 in value, demonstrating the technology's immediate ROI potential. Seagraves' research has been recognized with four best paper awards across 2024, and his project "Measuring Commercial Real Estate Sentiment with Large Language Models" secured a $17,500 grant from the University of Denver.
As a sought-after authority, Seagraves has shared his insights at major events this year, including the GTAR Commercial Market Update and the ULI Oklahoma panel. Looking ahead, he is collaborating with experts to analyze the limitations and biases of large language models (LLMs), paving the way for Collins College of Business to establish itself as a national thought leader in AI applications to real estate and finance.
