Last Updated on January 19, 2023

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has garnered a lot of attention since OpenAI released chatGPT (an intelligent chatbot and content generator) in November of 2022, and people all over the Real Estate industry have been brainstorming about how it can help your business.

So, I decided to ask the AI itself – what can AI do for the real estate industry? Well, here’s what it replied:

“AI can greatly benefit the real estate industry by automating repetitive tasks, analyzing large amounts of data, and providing insights for better decision making. For example, AI-powered chatbots can assist with customer service and lead generation, while machine learning algorithms can predict property prices and identify potential investment opportunities. Additionally, AI-generated virtual tours and 3D renderings can enhance the online home buying and selling experience. Overall, AI has the potential to increase efficiency and productivity, leading to cost savings and improved customer service in the real estate industry.”

Can it really do all of these things?!

Well, the answer is yes – and no.

There are 2 really important things to keep in mind as we explore the uses of AI in our business:

1.) Human Flaws Have a Direct Impact on AI

AI systems require A LOT of input called ‘training data’ to become effective. In order to gather this amount of data, developers have the algorithms interpret information from the open Internet. In the past, this has been one of the biggest challenges for AI, because any tweaks to the training data can have a significant impact on the AI’s output.

For example, in 2016 Microsoft unveiled “Tay”, their AI Twitter bot which would respond to people and learn from the conversations it was having. However, within 24 hours it had picked up enough racist and misogynistic data from user inputs that it started to output racist and misogynistic responses itself, and was quickly taken down by Microsoft.

https://www.theverge.com/2016/3/24/11297050/tay-microsoft-chatbot-racist

The team building openAI (the tech behind chatGPT) has taken this into account and built various protections to try to stop this behavior from happening. It seems to be working for the most part, but the AI has still learned some things from the open Internet that we will need to work around and help retrain over time.

For example, the first time I asked AI to promote a property, it included a line about being “perfect for the whole family” which is a clear Fair Housing violation. What’s really sad to me, is that the only reason it’s doing this is because agents have used that phrase so much that the AI thinks it is the appropriate way to do it.

So for now, as we wait for the training models to improve, we need to be very careful about what data we choose to publish from AI, and be intentional about the inputs we’re giving it, which brings me to my next point….

2.) AI is only as good as your inputs

AI has become incredibly good at generating content – IF it’s given great directions. However, it’s still not capable of reading your mind so you need to be specific in what you’re asking, which can be trickier than it sounds.

Think of AI like a CMA. If you happen to miss a critical input (like the foundation is crumbling) it can significantly impact the listing price, and AI is no different.

For example, the following inputs will result in dramatically different results.

• Write a market update for the last 3 months.
• Write a market update about residential homes in southern Florida for the last 3 months.

While this is a fairly basic example, we can quickly see that while AI might make our jobs easier, the end result will vary depending on the skill of the user.

Using AI in Your Business

The trick to using AI in your business is understanding the inputs to get the best results, and just like anything else with technology, this is a learned skill.

To help everyone learn these skills, I’ll be hosting webinars over the coming months that dive into using AI for specific purposes in our businesses and how you can give it the best input to get what you want.

If you would like to receive notifications about these webinars, please make sure you are subscribed to Agent Inner Circle by clicking here.