There’s always been a lot of hype around the use of AI (Artificial Technology).
It has been estimated that by 2020, 20% of all internet searches will be done by voice, opting for the ever-demanding AI features compared to the traditional browsing features.
The AI industry in the UK last year was worth £200m. Wow, I guess that’s a lot of Alexas!
So, how will AI work with the property industry? Or can it work in the property industry?
After all, property is about people. You can program the AI to have an effective communication with them, however, you can't get a robot up 3 flights of stairs to carry out an inspection.
What is AI?
Let’s look at the basics first.
AI (Artificial Intelligence) has been around since the start of computing and not something created out of Terminator or Star Wars.
Computers are designed to “automate business processes”. They are there to take care of the monotonous repeated tasks that consume our days and fry our brains. This is because they don’t have feelings, they don’t miss thing and they don’t have good and bad days. They start, run through a process and finish until the task is complete, that is, if they have been programmed correctly, yes you guessed it, by a human.
What does AI do already?
AI learns as it progresses, a bit like humans. These are its standard functions:
Knowledge
Reasoning
Problem solving
Perception
Learning
Planning
Ability to manipulate and move objects
However, we know them better as:
Apple’s Siri
Tesla
Amazon’s Alexa
Is the property industry ready for it?
Or, is AI ready for the property industry?
Here are some of the standard ways how AI can be utilised:
Enquiries from online portals through websites
Automatic booking for viewings (renting or buying)
Systemised feedback from such viewings and follow up emails and texts
Resolving maintenance queries and logging them
It is important to keep an open mind about the changes that are coming. Systemising and streamlining is key to the survival of any business, and the same goes for the property industry.
Better to catch up now than fall behind in the future!