Real AI: AI Specializes, 5 Fast Facts, Top AI Headlines and Quote of the Week

Real AI is a 100% human-created weekly roundup of all things AI in real estate and emerging AI innovations in other sectors likely to impact real estate.

AI specializes: gets smaller, smarter

While Craig Newmark, founder of Craiglist, may not have changed his UI in decades, he has become an advocate of responsible AI.

One of the nonprofits he supports, Moms First, announced an AI pilot to help people in New York secure paid leave with benefits: PaidLeave.ai.

Via LinkedIn, Craig points out that AI, when used for a specialty such as this, may significantly positively impact customer service. While chatbots taking over initial customer service screening, creating a wall between you and a real person, is still failing miserably (see the FedEx debacle we wrote about), this AI use for CS is highly intriguing.

He writes: "PaidLeave.ai acts as a personal assistant to people in New York state to help them figure out what they need to do to get their benefits. The process isn't easy, but PaidLeave.ai creates clear checklists and next steps — even drafts emails to your employer for you — to make the process as straightforward as possible. The best part? It talks to you like a human. There's no convoluted language or insurance jargon to decipher."

Now, think about the implications for real estate. OJO Labs has been on this path (simplifying the complex) for nearly a decade. Initially, they set up their AI platform to help answer buyers' basic questions about their journey in great detail and with a human-like conversational style. It has morphed into much more than that, but this kind of specialization – using AI for a more narrow, specialized task – is now the big trend.

Axios just covered "The push to make big AI small," noting the move to smaller, cheaper yet still powerful AI models, showing that even in AI, bigger – at least for specific tasks – may not mean better.

Dozens of ChatGPT apps are available, and dozens of other chat AI apps fill Google Play and the Apple App Store.

The real estate industry – especially tasks agents do every day that they don't particularly enjoy – is ripe for innovation. The problem is that most of these apps are not simple or as easy to use as they demo.

Agents need an AI easy button, and my guess is that, like PaidLeave.ai, it's designed to simplify a complex and difficult process, as more easy buttons for real agents (and consumers) are coming.

AI Five Fast Facts

1. Nine of every 10 Americans currently use AI devices, programs, or services featuring some element of AI.
2. 87% of baby boomers are reluctant to use voice assistants like Siri or Alexa because they prefer email as a mode of communication.
3. 83% of businesses claim that AI is a strategic priority in their business strategy.
4. One in every four companies adopts artificial intelligence to address labor shortages and customer pressure.
5. 97% of companies believe ChatGPT will help their business in some form.

Sources: Invezz – various sources

Top AI Headlines Take 5

1. Top 10 Benefits of AI in the Real Estate Industry | AiThority - 12/3/23
Mostly about how generative AI will be used in real estate, not actually being used – yet.

2. With Fannie Mae's adoption, AI's role in real estate is solidified | Inman - 11/29/23
When Fannie Mae talks, the lending industry listens.

3. Is AI the answer? The hotel industry grapples with its implications. | Hotels Mag - 12/1/23
Insight into how AI may reshape how hotels operate and deliver the customer experience.

4. There's a gap between AI talk and businesses actually using it | NBC - 12/3/23
Big business is great at talking the AI talk, but so far sucks at using it.

5. If AI is so smart, why are AI customer service chats so clueless? | ConsumerAffairs - 12/6/23
AI-reliant customer service is more about cutting costs than improving one's experience.

Quote of the week

To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.