Inman

Here’s every AI platform real estate agents need to know about in 2023

This article was last updated on May 15, 2023.

In recent days, Inman has explored tales of viral-but-fake images, real estate agents who are getting computer-generated headshots, and even cookie recipes conjured from a digital hive mind.

But the through line among all of these disparate-sounding tales is that they’re all products of artificial intelligence. Thanks to an explosion of new AI tools that began last year with ChatGPT, the public — including the real estate community — is gradually turning more and more to bots for tasks that previously required human intervention.

Inman’s previous stories on this topic aimed to provide context for what’s happening. But what follows is something different: A long list of resources that real estate professionals can actually use, whether they’re dipping toes in the AI waters or going all in and asking bots to them save time and money. And while it remains to be seen at this point where this still-nascent field is headed, it’s already clear that AI is poised to radically change how housing professionals do business.

Table of Contents

The chatbots

Chatbots have been around for years, but recent technological advances created a tsunami of interest in their abilities. They also happen to be the most popular AI tool among many real estate professionals, who are using them to write listing descriptions and branding copy.

The image generators

These tools can generate images that look like realistic photos, illustrations, comic books and even baroque paintings. Real estate professionals are now beginning to look at image generators as a way to imagine new developments, visualize properties and even conjure better headshots.

  • DALL-E 2: This is the platform that kicked off the current wave of AI image buzz, and it’s still one of the best-known image generators available to the public.
  • Midjourney: Widely considered to be the best of the publicly available image generators, Midjourney is known for creating images that are so realistic they’re often mistaken for being real.
    • Midjourney users also have to sign up for Discord, a social messaging app.
  • Stable Diffusion: Though it tends to have a harder time producing stellar images compared to rival platforms, Stable Diffusion has the significant benefit of being free and not requiring users to sign up — making it an ideal entry point for anyone wanting to experiment with AI.
  • DreamStudio: A lesser-known but nevertheless decent AI image generator, DreamStudio is a product of Stability AI and uses Stable Diffusion technology — though in Inman’s test of the platform it tended to produce better images than Stable Diffusion.
  • Fusion Brain: Fusion brain is also a somewhat obscure but powerful AI image generator. The platform tends to produce high quality images, though a word of caution: It also appears to be a product of a Russian firm, so use it at your own risk.
  • Try it On: This platform focuses exclusively on producing sleek headshots for working professionals. It charges a small fee, but has been making waves in real estate social media groups lately.
  • StudioShot: Another AI headshot provider, StudioShot promises users “premium” images and claims to have delivered more than half a million images so far. Inman contributor Rachael Hite recently gave the platform a try.
  • Additional resources: 

AI-powered real estate platforms

Numerous real estate companies are currently experimenting with AI. The applications vary, but over time these types of innovations are likely to become the most useful form of AI for real estate agents; though ChatGPT might be handy for writing copy, AI that gets built into other tools has the potential to tackle everything from contracts to title and escrow.

This is a rapidly expanding field, but we’ll keep updating this section as we hear of useful new tools.

Other more exotic AI tools

While chatbots, image generators and real estate-oriented platforms might be the most visible AI tools at the moment, there are a variety of other options that can perform even more exotic tasks. The list of such tools could be nearly infinite, but here are a few worth knowing about:

  • Adobe’s podcasting products, all of which are in beta right now:
    • Enhance Speech: This tool from Adobe is geared toward podcasts and relies on AI to improve the sound quality of recorded audio. In a recent conversation with Inman Windemere Abode co-owner Dave Jones mentioned that the tool saves him significant time editing his podcasts.
    • Mic Check: Another product for podcasters, Mic Check promises to use AI to “unlock quality sound from your microphone.”
    • Adobe Podcast: A more comprehensive tool, Adobe Podcast includes features for editing sound quality and translating audio recordings into text.
  • Eleven Labs: Eleven Labs is an AI-powered text-to-speech platform. At its most basic, it’ll read back whatever text a user inputs in a realistic sounding voice. But it also lets users upload a recording of a real person, and then imitates that person’s voice. Users have deployed the tool to create audio that sounds like it comes from celebrities, politicians and other famous figures. Eleven Labs is also how TikTok users have created audio for the Balenciaga trend in which famous people are depicted in a fashion show-like environment talking about the controversial clothing brand.
  • DI-D: This is an AI-powered video generator that promises to “give a face to conversational AI.” It can create realistic images of real or imagined people, and is also being widely deployed on social platforms such as TikTok. The platform can also animate images from other AI platforms such as Midjourney.
  • Runway: Runway can generate images, but is included here in this section on more exotic platforms because it additionally builds videos based on text prompts. The company has dozens of AI products, several of which also let users edit images and videos.

Update: This story was updated after publication with additional information on the real estate firms using artificial intelligence. 

Email Jim Dalrymple II