Artificial intelligence is one of the fastest-growing fields of research today and one that has already been used to great effect in dozens of different industries and business sectors. This includes the world of real estate, where machine learning and smart algorithms are being used for predicting market movements, whether property owners are likely to sell their homes any time soon, and dozens of other applications. In other words, AI is here to stay, and new ways to use artificial intelligence are being researched as we speak.

Google, as one of the largest and most influential tech companies in the world, is deeply invested in AI research. In fact, Google AI research teams have just revealed some major news by announcing their new, experimental Bard AI service is being opened to trusted testers as a precursor to making it more widely available to the general public. Let’s delve into the implications of such an announcement and how this new cutting-edge technology can be put to work for real estate professionals.

What is Bard?

Artificial intelligence is all about sorting and analyzing massive amounts of data to identify trends faster and more efficiently than any human being could possibly do. Bard is no different, except that it focuses on a specific service: communicating with human users. In search applications, Bard takes input from users typing in search queries and then creates accurate and helpful responses to those queries in ways that even the most advanced search algorithms Google uses currently simply cannot.

Bard accomplishes this by using Google’s Language Model for Dialogue Applications. LaMDA is the “engine” running behind the scenes that empowers Bard to be able to respond conversationally, much as a human being would when asked a question. The language model is incredibly complex, but to oversimplify it, LaMDA is trained on dialogue. This, in conjunction with having access to Google’s massive search databases, makes it possible for Bard to give a reply to a user’s search query with factual information that more closely matches the query.

Examples of Bard AI Technology in Action

Understanding how Bard works is just the first step - how would this conversational search service work in practice? What would it look like in action? Google’s announcement of Bard offers some examples. In one, a user asks Bard a complex question such as whether the piano or the guitar is the easier instrument to learn and how much practice is needed for both. Bard doesn’t just spit out search engine results; it analyzes those results and then synthesizes a sensible reply in real language. 

In this case, Bard says that the jury is out - some people claim the piano is easier to learn while others say the guitar is. Bard then gives reasons for each, citing natural finger and hand movements for the piano on the one hand while reporting that learning chords on a guitar can be done in just a few hours. Finally, Bard reports on how long it takes to reach intermediate proficiency in both instruments with one hour of practice a day - 3 to 6 months for a guitar and 6 to 18 for a piano. All this information is displayed first, before the results of the user’s search.

Possible Applications for Bard in the Real Estate Industry

Bard is just only undergoing testing in live environments, but Google does plan to increase access to the wider public soon. This means that soon this new and exciting AI-based conversational tool is going to be available, and there are dozens of ways that Bard could be applied more widely by real estate professionals. However, as it’s still not clear how closely tied Bard is going to be with Google’s search , it can be difficult to speculate as to what exactly this will look like.

This doesn’t mean we can’t extrapolate from how AI and machine learning are used currently in the real estate industry. AI’s focus on analyzing large quantities of data to provide invaluable insights to real estate professionals could become even sharper with Bard at the help. Real estate agents, brokers, and investors could see their data analysis become quicker and more accurate, all while being presented in ways that are easier to comprehend. Additionally, if Bard can be adapted for use in the AI chatbots many real estate professionals use now for answering routine questions from clients, there’s likely to be a boost to client retention and engagement as well. 

The Future of AI Is Now - Or Nearly Now

What will the future of AI hold? If Google’s examples of how Bard works are accurate, then things are certainly going to be different once the conversational AI model is integrated into search engine ality. It’s likely to pave the way for a major revolution in the way online data is presented to users - as long as it works as intended. As a technology, AI is far from perfect; it’s still very much in its infancy, despite the amazing advances that are being made seemingly every day. 

We still don’t know enough about Bard’s capabilities yet to be able to gauge just how much of a jump it will be in comparison to existing AI language processing and conversation models. Google’s announcement certainly looks promising, and the potential for Bard to represent a big leap forward with how we use machine learning algorithms to support business growth is quite high. It’s obvious that Bard bears watching so that its capabilities can be tested and its limitations are accounted for. With any luck, real estate professionals will be able to reap the benefits of Bard’s advanced capabilities sometime very soon.