Government Affairs Directors Institute: Robots in Real Estate

How artificial intelligence will shape the way consumers search for real estate

Todd Carpenter, National Association of REALTORS® 

On forward thinking

It’s certainly possible that none of this will happen. Artificial intelligence (AI) may never reach its potential. Machine learning might be yet another overhyped buzzword. Robots may never evolve beyond those automated vacuum cleaners that scare pets and choke on power cords."

This is a look into the future and requires some measure of imagination. "Famed science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke is credited for three adages that are known as Clarke's three laws:"

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong. "

2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible. "

3. Any suffciently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Clark’s most widely known character is HAL 9000, the robot antagonist in his fictional Space Odyssey series. HAL (Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer) is sentient, meaning “he” possesses artificial intelligence with the ability to learn. While most science fiction depictions of robots take a more humanoid form (like C-3PO in Star Wars), HAL lives inside a spaceship’s embedded computer. He controls the systems of the spacecraft and generally interacts with the crew through human dialog and a series of camera lenses located all over the ship."

2001: A Space Odyssey, the first film depicting HAL 9000, was released in 1968. At the time, an omnipresent robot with artificial intelligence seemed like pure fantasy. But in the not-so-distant future, similar robots will be in the pockets of home buyers and will probably take the lead in helping them find their next home. This report explores how this may happen. 

Click here to read the full report.