I’ll Be Back

Alec J. Pacella, CCIM

In 1984, a little-known actor smashed on the scene, literally and figuratively, as the villain cyborg known as the Terminator in a movie of the same title. The underlying premise of the movie was that, at some point in the future, artificial intelligence evolved to the point that computers were able to recognize humans as a threat, so they started a nuclear war to eliminate mankind.

I won’t get into the resulting twists and turns of the movie, but the idea seemed much less plausible almost 40 years ago. In the mid-1980s, if you were taking a trip, you would stop at a gas station and buy a map, not ask Siri for directions. If you wanted to listen to music, you would turn on an FM radio, not ask Alexa to play a music channel. And when you arrived home in the evening, you would walk in and flip a switch, not ask Hey Google to turn on the entry lights. Technology marches on, as it often does, and took a major leap forward last November when an online chatbot known as ChatGPT crashed on the scene. If you haven’t checked it out, get ready for a jolt. Before I get into how it has changed the paradigm, let’s first talk about what it actually is. ChatGPT is an application of artificial intelligence that is powered by an online language model developed by a company named OpenAI. If you’ve ever used an online chatbot to trouble-shoot a technology issue or, more likely, try to reach customer service, then you have used this technology.

OpenAI started in 2022 with a model known as General Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) which was trained.

ranging from books to articles to websites. In late November 2022, they launched ChatGPT, which fine-tuned responses by also integrating additional datasets of conversational data, such as chat logs and online discussion boards. The result is coherent, accurate and relevant conversational responses to user input. The public response has been incredible; within five days, it had one million users and within two months, users exceeded 100 million. By comparison, it took Facebook almost five years to reach 100 million users. Clearly, OpenAI was onto something.

Still not sure about what it actually does? In February, a Wharton professor used ChatGPT to take a final exam for his Master’s level finance course and scored an 88%. In March, a Harvard Law professor used it to write a legal brief that scored a 94% and in May, ChatGPT was administered an intelligence test, which resulted in a verbal IQ of 155.

This tool isn’t just about taking tests. It can be used to write software code, develop specific macros in Excel or even help to create a list of items when you go to the grocery store. But we are in the real estate business, so let’s focus on some specific ways it can be used in our industry.

Drafting documents

We are always writing something, ranging from a simple email to a letter of intent to a research report. ChatGPT can significantly automate the creation of most documents. The speed at which it does this is incredible and the more you use it, the more accurate and insightful the narrative becomes.

Social media

Anyone that uses social media knows how needy it can be. New, relevant and original content is required on a continual basis. ChatGPT can help provide new ideas and refine existing ideas that can be used for posts, blogs, newsletters and ad copy. It can be used to help develop a comprehensive media calendar with accompanying captions and taglines.

Enhance the sales process

The sales process typically starts with prospecting and, once we have a client, it moves through various phases, including marketing, analysis and negotiation, before culminating with a successful conclusion. ChatGPT can assist with researching prospects, developing call- ing scripts, creating copy for marketing material, structuring the negotiation, drafting the lease agreement and writing the press release announcing a successful transaction.

As you can see, the applications are incredible. If you think the learn- ing curve is equally incredible, think again. Setting up an account takes about a minute. Go to OpenAI’s ChatGPT website and click the “sign up” button. You’ll be prompted for the usual email username and password to create an account, followed by a quick verification process. That’s it – and, by the way, establishing an account is completely free (at least for now). Once you have an account, you can create your first “prompt.” A prompt is what allows ChatGPT to work its magic, as this is how you ask the model to perform a specific task. What you type in the prompt can be as simple or complex as you want it to be and depends on what you are asking for and the level of desired detail. When you submit the prompt, the model will process and generate a response. Having used ChatGPT for several months, I have found the old “garbage in, garbage out” analogy to be very appropriate. Following are some things that have helped to really improve my results.

ChatGPT can significantly automate the creation of most documents. The speed at which it does this is incredible and the more you use it, the more accurate and insightful the narrative becomes.

Type clear, specific instructions

The more specific you are in the prompt, the sharper your results will be. By contrast, general and ambiguous instructions will be met with a similar grainy response.

Use a style and tone to match the audience

If the intent is something more general, use broader terms but if you are trying to speak to a specific audience, the words in the prompt should reflect that audience.

Include relevant keywords

The more you can incorporate accu- rate keywords, the more relevant the response will be. Keywords are anything that points to specific items, thoughts or concepts of interest.

Incorporate additional context

The greater the context, the better that ChatGPT will understand the task. Use examples, background information, limits and boundaries or additional instructions to better guide the model.

Continually experiment and refine

The more you use it, the better your results will become. Experiment with different tones, styles and levels of detail and then compare the results.

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s role in the Terminator propelled him to movie stardom, despite the fact that throughout the entire movie, he only had 17 lines containing a total of less than 100 words. And most only remember three famous words. Similarly, ChatGPT burst on the scene last November, quickly becoming the leading edge of AI. And I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of it.

For September Properties Magazine

Alec Pacella,CCIM, President at NAIPleasantValley, can be reached by phone at 216-455-925 or by email at [email protected].You can connect with him at www.linkedin.com/in/alecpacellaccim or subscribe to his Youtube channel; What I C at PVC.