Will artificial intelligence replace real estate agents in the future?

“People thought the whole banking industry was going to completely go away. No, it's just different, it's changed.

“There's a lot more jobs, the industries have always gone up, but what you do at your job has changed." 

Contrary to popular belief, the rise of artificial intelligence has actually made way to more human-focused and experience-focused services—figuring out how clients can have a good working time while minimising the “boring stuff” such as data gathering and encoding. The way it’s going to change jobs is only by altering the way certain tasks are done.

According to Jonathan, the “human touch” will always have a place in the market, especially in property investment.

 The role of real estate agents in the future

Therefore it will come as no surprise that, in his opinion, in 10 years’ time real estate agents will still be an integral part of the property investment landscape—only this time, with a very different job description.

The “shopping experience” for property investors is definitely going to change amidst the rise of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and other technological advances, says Mr Miranda.

"Suddenly, buyers can view a perfect 3D model of the house without actually being present in the area—thanks to drone technology and virtual reality—or even choose from different options about certain features such as carpets and cabinets with a mere push of a button.

“You can jump from house to house to house - really quickly - which you can't do by driving around and getting from point A to point B because it just takes too much time.”

He said once property investors have filtered properties, it’s only reasonable to invest time looking at their potential investment in person—after all, property is expensive, and it requires diligence to be able to pick the right one.

"Essentially, no matter how fast technology develops, the last step will remain: See a real estate agent face-to-face to discuss other important, more unpredictable factors that may impact the purchase.

“There will always be unpredictable physical work that will require having conversations, managing people … A lot of transportation jobs are going to change fundamentally with autonomous vehicles, but the plumber is never going to change because that job is different every single time.”

He said that some things need to be dealt with face-to-face.

“When somebody can't tell you what's wrong with their sink, you have to have a human conversation. You pull open the cabinet and it's completely different every single time. Those unpredictable pieces will always have a human touch. 

"At the end of the day, technology will only serve as a helping hand for the workforce in order to achieve maximum productivity with minimum wasted time, effort, and expenses." 

Tune in to Jonathan Miranda’s episode on The Smart Property Investment Show to know more about artificial intelligence and the changes it will bring should be embraced and not feared.

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