Work from home — the movement that started during the Covid-19 pandemic and then continued when originally people thought it would die out — has been seen as an ongoing bane to the office market. Companies with dispersed workforces may not have as much need for maintaining office space as they once might have.

There's also been the so-called flight to quality in companies moving into better digs and a greater ability for Class-A properties to remain in demand, leased up, and maintaining rents. And interest rates making refinancing a challenge. A complex situation.

Now add another wrinkle: artificial intelligence. The technology first appeared in the 1950s. Developing over a long time, it's become mainstream in ways that have been almost invisible. Software for decades has implemented a range of implementations that range from complex aids for data analysis to things as common as spellcheck.