Practical AI for FMs

The AI field guide for facilities teams

Learn how to harness AI to enhance decision making, power space planning, and speed workflows for your entire team.

In this guide:
Get the AI-readiness checklist
Build shareable custom GPTs
Use Deep Research for strategic planning
Follow AI experts
Explore use cases for FMs
Expand your knowledge with these reads

Build a custom GPT for your team in minutes

Get the full guide plus tips and tricks from OpenAI

Identify your use GPT's use case

Think of role-specific tasks that can streamline the workflow for you and your team. Feeling stuck? Get ideas from OpenAI's ChatGPT Use Cases for Work.

Start with quick wins

Define your desired outcomes and parameters

Feed it your knowledge base

"GPTs are tailored AI assistants built on top of OpenAI’s GPT models, customized for a specific purpose, audience, or workflow. They integrate your knowledge and tools, remember context and follow your unique style, and can be shared with your team or published for broader use. All with no coding required."

Zig Wu

Head, Strategic Occupancy Planning, OpenAI

“At OfficeSpace, we don’t just build AI features for our customers — we use AI to run our own business more effectively too. We’ve partnered closely with OpenAI to build a growing set of custom GPTs that act like digital teammates across our organization. These aren’t general-purpose chatbots — they’re tailored to our workflows, our data, and the way we operate."

Andres Avalos

Chief Product Officer, OfficeSpace Software

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Top AI experts to follow

As recommended by Jeremy Schreiner, Data Engineer, OpenAI

01.

Greg Brockman

OpenAI co-founder and president. Read: How to Write the Perfect AI Prompt

02.

Dr. Andrew Ng

Founder of DeepLearning.AI and co-founder of Coursera. Read his newsletter: Letters from Andrew Ng

03.

Rohit Patel

Director at Meta's Superintelligence Labs. Read: Understanding LLMs from Scratch Using Middle School Math

04.

Fidji Simo

CEO and Chair at Instacart, Board Memeber at OpenAI and Shopify. Read: AI as the Greatest Source of Empowerment for All

05.

Yann LeCun

Chief Scientist, OpenAI. Read: Yann LeCun Emphasizes the Promise of AI

06.

Sam Altman

Co-founder, CEO, OpenAI Read: The Gentle Singularity

Top AI use cases for space planners + FMs

Space planning and optimization

Use AI to forecast space demand, fine-tune layouts, and instantly simulate floor plans so every square foot supports productivity and collaboration.

Workflow and automation

Smart insights and reporting

Employee coordination and experience

Concierge-level support

Your AI-readiness checklist

Most workplace data lives across disconnected systems, making it hard for even the smartest AI to perform. The checklist below will help you assess your AI readiness, align your data, and set the stage for meaningful results.

Audit your data sources

Where does your workplace data live? Look across systems like badge access, HR platforms, booking tools, sensors, and CAFM. Assess whether your data is accurate, recent, and structured and identify any gaps or silos that could slow down AI adoption.

Identify repeatable, manual tasks

Map your internal stakeholders

Start a pilot program

Align with trusted vendors

Share results and iterate

Deep Research enables companies to stay ahead

ChatGPT’s Deep Research function goes beyond a typical web search and analyzes multiple sources for deeper insights, delivering digestible summaries. This is especially important for AI-first companies, allowing them to make informed workplace design decisions, adopt best hybrid workplace practices, and balance real estate resources and spend.

Include in your prompt:

What you're researching
Format you want (e.g., executive summary, bullets, SWOT)
Parameters (what to exclude)
Who you are / why you need it
Tip: Think like a researcher. Frame prompts as if you were briefing a research assistant—be specific about scope, audience, and purpose.

What you'll get:

"At OpenAI, we harness the power of artificial intelligence alongside OfficeSpace technology to drive our occupancy strategies and workplace experience. By leveraging AI, we can analyze real-time utilization patterns, predict future space demands, and uncover insights that traditional methods might overlook. OfficeSpace's dynamic platform enables us to visualize these data-driven insights, manage space allocations efficiently, and optimize seat assignments to support both individual productivity and team collaboration. This synergy allows us to create agile, purpose-driven environments where space evolves alongside the needs of our rapidly growing teams."

Zig Wu
Head, Strategic Occupancy Planning, OpenAI

What's generative AI?

Models that create original content based on prompts. In the workplace, it’s commonly used for generating documentation, crafting virtual tours, powering chatbots, and enhancing tenant or employee engagement through personalized content.

What's agentic AI?

AI agents can plan, take actions, and adapt over time to meet specific goals. These systems act on your behalf, automating tasks like scheduling, orchestrating workflows, or managing data without needing constant supervision.

"We like to say agentic AI is 'supercharging the superhumans' like you in every organization. It’s capable of independent research, work, planning, and execution. As it gets feedback, it adjusts its strategy." — Jeremy Schreiner, OpenAI

Your next read

CRE leaders: Break through barriers to AI adoption (Workline)
AI-powered predictive maintenance can maximize the value of your assets (Deloitte)
ChatGPT is impacting young FM professionals (IFMA)
AI is influencing facilities management (JLL)
4 factors reshaping facilities management (CBRE)
How AI agents are shaping the future of work (OfficeSpace)

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