Will AI Systems Like ChatGPT Replace Human Connection in Real Estate?

More so than ever before, technology capabilities are advancing to work faster than humanly possible, and pull information from limitless sources along the way.

It may cause some to wonder: How is the rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) impacting business? And, how can it make improvements to existing systems and processes?

On the latest episode of Keepin’ It Real with Nick Bailey, a panel of subject experts share their opinions on the role of AI in real estate, specifically the use of ChatGPT, an AI “chatbot” developed by OpenAI. Kai Larsen, Associate Professor of Information Management at the University of Colorado-Boulder, and Michael Thorne, an agent with RE/MAX LifeStyles Realty in Langley, British Columbia, and host of social media bootcamps, weighed in on the hot topic.

When it comes to technology – from basic systems to complex machine learning – Bailey famously says, “Technology exists to support real estate agents, not replace them.”

Many professionals in the industry adopt this mindset and are open to the everchanging platforms and tools that can help streamline business. According to both panelists, ChatGPT could be used by a real estate agent to revolutionize multiple aspects of business.

How can AI benefit business?

The realm of AI is still new, but experts already have thoughts on how it can currently impact business, and ways it could continue to help going forward.

“I think we’re at the very starting point of these [types of] technologies. It sounds strange to say it given all these things, such as ChatGPT and other tools, are already doing, but we are barely scratching the surface on what these tools will do,” Larsen predicts. “They are very much directly driven by access to all human knowledge previously created and the speed of processing to decompose that information.”

He shares that rather than having tools like ChatGPT simply do the work for a person, it’s instead beneficial in creating new ideas and identifying information gaps. AI could also be helpful in generating smaller pieces of content – like listing descriptions – that could add to an agent’s repertoire of buying and selling lingo. But, as previously mentioned, they would have to take the time to shape the personal tone and check for accuracy.

Thorne agrees, adding, “It’ll come down to the user and not the tool. And I think that will make the big difference long term, because you can make it do some remarkable things through prompting [the tool] the right way.”

Thorne credits ChatGPT as a way to ramp up brainstorming capabilities. He suggests a real estate professional could take their creative content – like blogs on a website – and harness AI to identify topics that a professional could expand upon to provide value for consumers.

How can professionals ensure authenticity when using AI tools?

Larsen emphasizes striking an important balance of human-powered work and tech-powered work to guarantee an agent’s personality still shines through. When used in an empowering manner, he applauds how the heightened knowledge – and record speed – of AI could benefit an entrepreneur’s bottom line and increase their output of work.

Thorne similarly notes that tools like ChatGPT can’t replace the uniqueness of human voice and tone, and that professionals who do use AI tools to generate online content should focus on doing so to generate ideas and expand upon them, ensuring the final product is their own work.

“[When] our buyers and sellers are reading our content [and] they’re on our website, [and then] they finally get to [meet with you in person], if the person they’re getting to know online and getting educated from is not the person they end up sitting across the table from, that will create this disconnect that will result in a suspicion that you aren’t the expert you say you are,” Thorne explains.

“It’s crucial that any output we have ChatGPT do is in our own voice.”

To hear more from Larsen and Thorne about ChatGPT – and the potential future of smart tech – tune in to the latest episode of Keepin’ It Real.

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