I am so excited to bring you this weekly technology column focused on technology, tools and techniques that real estate agents and brokers can use to be more successful in the market. For those that don’t know me, I am Chairman and Founder at PROGRESS in Lending Association. As a speaker I have worked hard to inform executives about how technology should be a tool used to further business objectives. For over 20 years I have worked as a journalist, researcher and speaker in the real estate and mortgage technology space. But enough about me, let’s get down to business.
I want to start this weekly column by sharing my thoughts on ChatGPT. Just in case you don’t know what this technology is, I did some research to try and find the best, most understandable description. The most common-sense explainer that I found comes from Mashable. They say, “ChatGPT is, in essence, a simple online artificial intelligence chatbot. You can ask it a question, and it will answer that question.”
People are using this new technology to chat, write essays, reach out to customers, create marketing content, etc. It has a lot of applications for the real estate world, but not everyone is a fan.
Legendary musician and writer Nick Cave says, “I understand that ChatGPT is in its infancy but perhaps that is the emerging horror of AI – that it will forever be in its infancy, as it will always have further to go, and the direction is always forward, always faster. It can never be rolled back, or slowed down, as it moves us toward a utopian future, maybe, or our total destruction… It will always be a replication, a kind of burlesque.”
On the positive side, Kevin Rose, a technology columnist and the author of “Futureproof: 9 Rules for Humans in the Age of Automation,” adores ChatGPT. He wrote in The New York Times that “for most of the past decade, A.I. chatbots have been terrible — impressive only if you cherry-pick the bot’s best responses and throw out the rest. In recent years, a few A.I. tools have gotten good at doing narrow and well-defined tasks, like writing marketing copy, but they still tend to flail when taken outside their comfort zones… But ChatGPT feels different. Smarter. Weirder. More flexible.”
So, which is it? Is ChatCPT a mere “replication” as Cave believes or is “smart” as Rose says? In my view, the truth lies in the middle. I don’t think the technology will lead to “total destruction” as Cave theorizes, nor is it the second coming as Rose describes it.
It reminds me of the automated underwriting craze. Once this technology was launched in the real estate world everyone said we wouldn’t need live underwriters anymore. They were wrong. The technology has improved the process for sure, but good live underwriters still enjoy employment in real estate today.
Similarly, ChatGPT can help you write a blog to send out to your customers, and you should use it for things like that. It’s a tool like a wrench or a screwdriver, but those tools don’t replace the mechanic using them. You’re the mechanic. My advice is to use this tool to increase customer engagement and make your life a little easier, it’s great for that, but it’s not going to dramatically replace anyone in the real estate world. Fear not, your job is safe.
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