There has been a lot of buzz lately on the acceleration of AI (artificial intelligence) technology and one of its new iterations, ChatGPT, a chatbot developed by San Francisco-based OpenAI that uses machine-learning algorithms to understand written language and generate responses based on user inputs or chat entries.
Proponents of the AI technology and all the hype surrounding it suggest its potential utility in real estate — an industry that has traditionally been, well, traditional.
For many real estate professionals, transactions are completed through elaborate human interactions — face-to-face presentations, in-person viewings and inspections, and market expertise — and using AI technology or machine learning to automate real estate professionals’ work may seem like a science fiction.
But unbeknownst to many, AI technology already has many uses in real estate, including AI-powered valuation models, human-like chatbots that answer user queries, and revenue-maximization tools, to name just a few.
Given the pace this technology is evolving, it is not implausible to expect generative AI technology like ChatGPT to soon perform more meaningful work in real estate, such as generate property marketing materials by just typing a few keywords, mine data to identify sellers who are likely to sell, and launch chatbots that carry almost human-like conversations that will help shape broker—client relationships. Real estate agents in the United States, as reported by CNN, are using ChatGPT to speed up repetitive tasks like writing property listings so they can focus on more important tasks.
But despite all its benefits, ChatGPT is not without limitations. Since it is trained on online data to generate replies to user prompts, its responses are limited with what it can only find online (its knowledge cutoff is 2021).
Here are a couple of examples when Colliers tested the chatbot to generate real estate-related content.
“Makati Commerce Tower
Makati Commerce Tower is a skyscraper located in Makati City, Philippines. It is a Class A office building that offers premium office spaces for lease. The building features modern and efficient office spaces, as well as a range of amenities for its tenants, including meeting rooms, a café, and a fitness center. It is conveniently located near the central business district of Makati and is easily accessible via major roads and public transportation. With its prime location, top-notch facilities, and first-class services, Makati Commerce Tower is a popular choice for businesses looking to establish a presence in the Philippines.”
At first glance, the content generated by ChatGPT for this building may seem impressive, but if you look closer you will see that it is fairly generic and lacks the details that may make this building more interesting to potential tenants. For instance, it was unable to say exactly how far it is from “the central business district of Makati” and “major roads and public transportation.”
Some may say that ChatGPT is a “total game changer” when it comes to marketing and prospecting as it has the potential to speed up content generation for marketing collaterals and, hence, provide more time to be devoted on meeting clients and assisting them during property inspections.
There are certainly areas that ChatGPT’s usefulness might be very limited, such as contracts and memoranda. Real estate professionals tailor-fit contracts according to the preferences and requirements of the parties involved, which vary greatly from deal to deal.
In commercial real estate, a successful deal is the mutual understanding between a landlord and a tenant, and this requires remarkable negotiating skills and expertise on the part of the office-leasing professional — something that any machine-learning algorithm, ChatGPT or otherwise, will as of yet be hard-pressed to do. (Marketing and Communications, Colliers)
