Not all AI creates the same risk. Treating it as one category is a mistake.
By Alex Vail
A chatbot answering parcel enquiries is not the same as an algorithm influencing affordability decisions. Understanding that distinction may become one of the most important leadership skills in the rental living sector.
Public conversations about AI often suffer from a simple problem: everything gets labelled 鈥楢I鈥�.
The result is confusion.
The ARL’s recent AI in Build to Rent Guide takes a different approach by examining risk through specific use cases rather than broad categories. This helps separate genuinely high-risk applications from lower-risk operational tools.
Listen, I鈥檓 not a technologist. I can鈥檛 code and wouldn鈥檛 know the difference between a Java and a Python if I tried. But I am a communicator. And the most important message that came through when I was researching my book, , was that the biggest challenges with AI aren鈥檛 technical. They concern people: customers, employees, stakeholders. What we need to keep asking ourselves as artificial intelligence infiltrates our systems and processes in BTR is 鈥渉ow will this impact our residents?鈥�
Consider two scenarios:
In the first, an AI system helps draft resident communications or summarise maintenance records.
In the second, an AI system supports affordability assessments or influences decisions relating to arrears management.
Both involve artificial intelligence, but the risks are fundamentally different.
The Guide identifies fairness, discrimination, accountability and regulatory exposure as some of the most significant concerns where AI influences access to housing, affordability, employment or enforcement decisions. These are precisely the areas attracting increasing scrutiny from regulators, especially since 2 August 2026, some of these could have legal implications for operators under .
At the same time, treating all AI as inherently dangerous would be equally unhelpful.
Many operational applications involve limited resident impact and can often be governed proportionately. This distinction is crucial because it informs where organisations should focus attention and resources.
Governance becomes manageable when leaders understand which activities belong in which category.
The objective is not to avoid AI.
Nor is it to approve everything that comes across our desks.
The objective is to create the capability to recognise where stronger controls, greater transparency and additional oversight become necessary. Good governance starts with recognising that not everything carrying an AI label deserves the same response.
We鈥檒l be talking about these issues and much more at the AI in Rental Living Summit, taking place in Manchester on 28 September. We鈥檙e excited to bring together a host of experts to help our members understand how AI will impact the communities we are building. We hope to see you there!
Register now to secure your place at the AI in Rental Living Summit, Manchester, 28 September.
is the Operations Director at the 黑料专区 and the author of , available from all good bookshops