By Kevin Hawkins with Korey Hawkins | Vol. 2 Post 10
Real AI is a 100% human-created weekly roundup of all things AI in real estate and emerging AI innovations in other sectors likely to impact real estate, posting weekly.
AI ads are coming
My first journalism boss was the late, great Jeffery Weiss, managing editor at the Miami Hurricane, our University of Miami newspaper that was printed at the Miami Herald back in the day.
Jeffery had two signs on his desk – a desk that was stacked with piles of papers a foot high covering the entire top of his workspace. The first sign read: “The sign of an organized desk is the sign of a deceased mind.” How appropriate. The other one said “TANSTAAFL!,” which stood for “Their Ain’t No Such Thing as a Free Lunch.”
The principal of TANSTAAFL is a mainstay in our lives, including our tech-enabled ones. Remember when Google had no advertising? Now it’s the largest advertising outlet in the world. We gave up DVDs for the convenience of streaming and now even paid streaming services like Amazon Prime are pegging on advertising unless you “upgrade” and pay even more.
Early pro-level AI has been, like streaming, funded by a monthly subscription-based revenue model and pay-as-you play. As a result, it’s essentially has been ad-free. That’s about to change.
Today, when you do a Google search, you are likely to see Generative AI results at the top of the page, or at least an option to invoke it. No ads are displayed and on our browsers, we are seeing Gen AI results top paid-for “Sponsored” results.
The Chatbots – right now, all the major ones also are ad free. But how long do you think that’s going to last? Not long, because the ad giants are already circling and ready to drive a new source of revenue for cash-starving tech that is empowered by AI.
Earlier this week, Axios reported, “Google doesn’t have ads in Gemini today, but CEO Sundar Pichai has said Google is looking to see where ads could fit.” A new startup, Adzedek, is pushing ads within custom GPT apps. OpenAI isn’t getting a cut – yet.
So, how long will it be before all types of Chatbots start serving us ads? And not just any ads, but like an Amazon search, Chatbot ads will seem to understand what you want before you even realize you want it. Just when you were excited that “cookies” are going away, Madison Avenue finds another way to get its hooks into the content we consume.
Everybody likes Pi, right? Say hi to Pi.ai
There’s another new generative AI chatbot to add to your growing list. Meet Pi by Inflection – already claiming to be as swift as ChatGPT-4. It’s quickly emerging as another rival in the space, topping a million daily users. That pales to the reported 100 million daily users that ChatGPT claims, but right now, Pi is free.
Do we really need another chatbot? It turns out that each chatbot has different strengths and weaknesses. So, the answer depends on what you need your Chatbot to do.
Our take is that ChatGPT (Microsoft-backed) is still the champ because of its utility: it does a lot of different things incredibly well. Because Gemini is by Google, it does a much better job providing more timely and current information behind its responses. We find Claude (Amazon-backed) has improved enormously when it comes to writing assistance.
The buzz around Pi is that its super-strengths are related more to math, science, and coding. From our quick trails, we can tell you that it’s not ready to be a writing assistant, as its writing skills are basic at best. Venture Beat reports that Pi’s performance “nearly matches OpenAI’s GPT-4 model, especially across STEM subjects.”
The one advantage Pi has over all the others: it’s incredibly polite, even personable. In our first interaction, we were greeted with “Hey there, great to meet you,” and added “How’s your day going?” Last week, we wrote about research that suggested it pays to be polite to your chatbot. Pi turns the table, as this is a chatbot being polite to you.
Don’t expect Pi to go away anytime soon. Pi’s backing includes an all-star cast: Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt is a major investor in Pi along with Microsoft founder Bill Gates and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman. Keep in mind that Schmidt is also a major investor in Anthropic (Claude), DeepMind (bought by Google) and 50+ other AI firms, reports say.
AI Fast Facts
- 22% of tech firms are aggressively pursuing the integration of AI across a wide variety of technology products and business workflows – CompTIA IT Industry Outlook
- Almost half (47%) of businesses surveyed are already utilizing AI tools in the form of digital personal assistants – Forbes Advisor
- Three in 10 IT professionals say their colleagues are using AI and automation tools to save time – IBM
- 80% of marketers already had chatbots as part of their customer experience strategy – Semrush
- 51% of businesses are turning to AI to help with cybersecurity and fraud management – Forbes Advisor
Source: CompTIA
AI Headlines – Take 5
This Virus Steals Your Data from Generative AI Tools | 3/5/24 AI Business
Researchers created Morris II – a Generative AI malware – to show how easy it is to infect AI models.
How AI Can Streamline the Real Estate Business | 3/4/24 Built In
Real estate firms are adopting AI solutions to simplify operations.
AI Might Kill the “Starchitect”—But Make Real Estate More Sustainable | 2/29/24 New York Tech News
Opinion piece: days of star architects are numbered because of Generative AI.
Real Estate Blunder: Agent’s AI Chatbot Gaffe Exposes Copy-Paste Error in $900 Rental Listing | 3/6/24 BNN Breaking
This blooper serves as a cautionary tale in the pitfalls of AI integration.
AI Helps Cut Costs, Aids in Fraud Detection in the Multifamily Space | 3/4/24 REALTOR Magazine
AI is being adopted by owners and managers to prevent rental fraud.
Quote of the Week
Subscribe to our free Real AI newsletter here.
Content suggestions welcomed: email korey@wavgroup.com.
