3 questions for you to answer about AI and human behaviour

Is AI changing client decision-making, who really becomes a power user, and are firms thinking beyond adoption?

Traditionally, using technology required learning specific skills. To become an expert in Excel you learnt formulas, to build a website you learnt to code, and even loading a dishwasher requires placing things in a very specific way.

Usually, humans adapt to technology, but now AI uniquely adapts to us as humans. It can carry out quite human tasks and responds to standard language, allowing it to be integrated in teams alongside humans. As a result, understanding people has become just as valuable as understanding the technology itself, raising new questions for business leaders.

Based on what we've seen across Knight Frank Europe, here are three questions worth considering about AI and human behaviour.

1. How has AI changed the way clients make decisions?

Understanding clients now also encompasses understanding how AI shapes their behaviour.

If someone uses AI to 'google' you, what will they find? How would ChatGPT evaluate an asset or your pricing strategy? What questions is your client too embarrassed or time-poor to ask you and is asking AI instead? Considering questions like these is an act of empathy.

Understanding a client’s AI use is another opportunity to anticipate client behaviour and reinforce our role as a trusted advisor because our work is increasingly being consumed by humans using AI.

2. Who is the AI power-user on your team?

It’s probably not who first comes to mind. When we asked teams across Europe who their best AI users were, they almost always pointed to the youngest people, leaning on biased assumptions about tech adoption.

But the best AI users aren't defined by age. We can interact with AI through standard human communication, often with no new technical skills, which changes who can use it well.

People who delegate effectively and evaluate output critically often have the strongest use-case ideas. Even leaders who don't see themselves as 'tech-savvy' can be some of our strongest users because this is how they naturally operate. For clients, this shifts the source of value from AI fluency alone to quality human judgment in tandem.

3. When you think about the human component of AI, are you only thinking about adoption?

Because that is the smallest version of the question. Across markets, questions quickly move beyond usage to shifting roles, AI ethics, and how this technology will live in workflows.

People intuitively understand that AI adoption is more than a technology question. As teams move towards a human + artificial intelligence models, businesses must evolve. We must create an ecosystem where IT, Innovation, Data, and People integrate, not just collaborate, because the lines between these functions are now beautifully blurred.

Every great historical leap forward, from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, started with people asking questions. Curiosity is perhaps one of our most human skills. So, how would you answer these questions? Which new questions arise? Who will you ask them to?