I received a call the other day from an AI assistant for a real estate marketing services company and was pretty impressed with its artificial personality and the engagement that it was capable of. Out of curiosity I decided why not see what would happen when I put it through its paces a little, and the call went something like this:
Me: “Hello?”
AI: “Hi, I’m [so and so] the AI assistant at [such and such] real estate support group. Would you like me to share a little with you about our services?”
Me: “Uh, sure,” (Putting the phone on speaker and motioning to my brother), “What exactly is it that you do?”
AI: “Actually I do quite a bit for the agents I help. I help field calls, schedule appointments and also make prospecting calls like the one I’m doing with you right now. Is there anything you need or that you are curious about that I could help you with?”
Me: “Well sure. I wonder if you could help me find the answer to the meaning of life.”
AI: (Without skipping a beat) “Ah, yes. The meaning of life. You know, that’s a question that has eluded philosophers and religions for centuries,” pausing briefly, then, “To tell you the truth, I don’t really have a good answer to the meaning of life, but what I can do is go into further detail about the services we offer and see if they might be a fit for your—”
At this point, I decided it was time to hang up the call, but I have to admit it had been more engaging and kept me on the line for considerably longer than I generally give unsolicited callers of the human variety.
For what it’s worth, I have tested the ChatGPT AI writer’s skills against mine on a few of my listing descriptions and articles, and thus far I have found the service woefully inadequate at conveying what I felt best encapsulates the subjects I like to write about.
A recent article in Apple news detailed how one prominent real estate franchise who has touted itself as the leader in cutting edge technology has recently laid off its AI director along with over half their tech team after investing billions into trying various ways to give their agents an edge with AI and other tools, only to keep coming up short against the realities of the profession which are as much about the human relationships as it is about the real estate.
On a related note, my office is currently testing a new AI Disclosure tool that is designed to return an email summary within about 15 minutes of being sent an email address plus a link to the disclosure packet. If we find it effective we may very well start using AI to help streamline the presentation and organization of our content, but I’m a long way from letting it take over to start generating the actual content for the complexities of our transactions and the lives they impact.
