Photo: Chaiel Schaffel/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — As use of artificial intelligence in the workplace becomes more commonplace, realtors are beginning to use it for property listings, sometimes without fact-checking the results.
President of the Greater Boston Association of Realtors Mark Triglione said that an increasing number of agents have been using AI to create these listings, from touching up photos to generating property descriptions.
“The reason why you’re seeing more and more of it is because it’s more accessible to agents,” Triglione said.
If the agents aren't careful, Triglione explained that these posts could be misleading or even violate Fair Housing laws in how the properties are represented.
“There’s a clear line in real estate of where that becomes and problem and where it’s not, and that’s misrepresentation,” he said. “Even if you write a great prompt that tells AI to follow Fair Housing and that you are a Massachusetts real estate agent, how can you really be sure if it’s doing so? You still need to use your own expertise to check that and make sure.”
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He further explained that misrepresentation in listings is not a new phenomenon, but the frequency of this kind has increased with the use of AI.
“If you’re removing a water tank from the back of the house, that’s a problem, that’s a misrepresentation of the property, Triglione said. “This has always been an issue, but it’s become more of an issue lately.”
According to Triglione, Greater Boston realtors have been slow to adopt the technology.
“We’re probably more in the preliminary stages of that,” he said. “In my estimation, and this is just my guess, I bet only 10-15% of agents are actively using AI in their business.”
He does, however, believe that AI use in the local real estate world will continue to increase in the coming years as younger agents enter the workforce.
WBZ NewsRadio’s Chaiel Schaffel (@CSchaffelWBZ) reports.