AI will enhance jobs, not steal them

Artificial intelligence is not something to fear: it has the potential to improve every job it supports and to create more profitable businesses

Eichenauer,

“EVERY revolutionary idea seems to evoke three stages of reaction. They may be summed up by the phrases:

(1) it’s completely impossible; (2) it’s possible, but it’s not worth doing; and

(3) I said it was a good idea all along.”

So said legendary sciencefiction writer Arthur C Clarke, who also created perhaps the most famous fictional AI system, HAL 9000, in his novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, later transformed into a worldwide cinematic phenomenon by Stanley Kubrick. Although I assume Clarke wasn’t talking about the transformative possibilities of artificial intelligence (AI) within real estate, there is a case to be made that his quote can be reflected in the slow integration of tech within the industry.

It’s fair to say there is considerable cynicism around the role of AI across society, perhaps not helped by evil sentience imagined by Clarke in his dystopian creation. Although an apocalyptic AI is a remote and distant possibility, a more immediate and realistic issue for real estate professionals is: will AI take my job?

Realistically? Yes – partly.

Before you dust off your CV and Google “careers immune to AI”, we at askporter believe that our technology

– and AI in general – will not lead to mass redundancies across real estate. Instead, we believe that a goodquality, safe and reliable AI product will enhance every job it supports, improve the quality of work life and create more profitable businesses.

In brief, askporter’s AI property obsolete. Rather, we will see a vast reduction in the number of small, repetitive and time-consuming tasks that slow progress and distract from the more serious and challenging parts of the job. In addition, those tasks that require the least thought can often cause the most amount of carelessness and mistakes, which will be eradicated with AI.

Transparency is key

management system uses automation to respond to customer queries; it is a digital assistant that can handle customer conversations autonomously and capture, sort and handle complex issues and processes from raise to resolution, creating actual operational efficiency. Askporter specifically integrates AI into the facilities management sector. With time freed up for facilities managers to complete more complex, technical and skilled tasks, no longer will we hear managers tell customers: “I’m sorry – I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

The tasks that AI will make obsolete for facilities managers are not those that will render their jobs

At askporter, we are well aware that to integrate AI systems into real estate, we and other companies need to be as transparent as possible with potential clients and consider the vitality of cybersecurity. It’s fair to say that real estate is one of the more traditional professional service sectors, and has been slower to integrate technology as a whole into the sector, even before AI became an integral part of proptech.

Firstly, we are fully transparent with potential clients about how much it will cost and how the technology will transform their business. We have perhaps become cynical at a consumer level about technology that promises to transform our lives, only to either come at a hefty price or to be presented as cheap/free but with expensive (yet vital) add-ons. Only if we and other companies are truly honest about financial cost/benefit will we win the trust of the sector.

Security and trust

Secondly, and perhaps the most crucial aspect of integrating AI into the industry, is security and trust. All joking aside, we are not expecting askporter’s product to gain sentience and begin trash-talking your customers and setting off fire alarms.

But we do know that cybercrime is the single most dangerous threat to the security of most companies in 2023.

It is not enough for askporter to just provide a strong level of cybersecurity with our product, however; we need every company introducing AI integration to customers, in the real estate market and beyond, to provide bulletproof products and the highest-quality security measures. Only then will we, as an AI technology community, earn the full trust of the industries we support.