Real AI: AI free-for-all, AI gets its own keyboard key, fast facts, top headlines and Quote of the Week

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.

The AI free-for-all

2024 is signaling a messy year ahead for AI. Last week, Apple and Disney were told by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that they could not avoid shareholder votes calling for reports on their use of AI.

The creators of Siri and Mickey were asked to disclose how the companies are using AI in their business operations. Apple was explicitly asked to reveal "any ethical guidelines that the company has adopted" related to the use of AI, Reuters reported.

Likewise, questions for Disney centered on what role its board plays in overseeing AI usage.

Seems pretty straightforward, right? Not so fast. Disney and Apple argued that such disclosures were "ordinary business operations," and they don't need to disclose, just like the firm's choice of which technology they use.

The SEC disagreed, saying the requested disclosures "transcends ordinary business matters."

Who is behind the requests looking for AI use and abuse? The AFL-CIO says they are just asking these giants to disclose like Microsoft already does.

Adding to this latest news is the lawsuit against OpenAI for copyright infringement that comes from the New York Times, the recently settled Hollywood strikes, new AI laws making their way through state legislatures (like California) and Congress, and the AI Bill of Rights proposed by The White House. It's a bit of an AI free-for-all out there.

How do these things impact real estate? AI usage is already remarkably high in our industry and leading the most. Significant potential impacts of AI are essential to follow – and track.

AI gets its own keyboard key

Are you a Windows user? Have we got a new key for you! Microsoft has been over the moon about its Copilot technology. Leaked strategically before CES (Consumer Electronics Show) next week in Vegas, Microsoft is touting it as the first change to its keyboard in three decades.

First, what is Copilot? It's a shortcut to connect you with Generative AI via Microsoft's Office 365 Suite, including Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook. It also introduces "Business Chat" as somewhat of a virtual assistant. As Microsoft writes on its blog:

Copilot is integrated into Microsoft 365 in two ways. It works alongside you, embedded in the Microsoft 365 apps you use every day — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams and more — to unleash creativity, unlock productivity and uplevel skills. Today, we're also announcing an entirely new experience: Business Chat. Business Chat works across the LLM, the Microsoft 365 apps, and your data — your calendar, emails, chats, documents, meetings and contacts — to do things you've never been able to do before. You can give it natural language prompts like "Tell my team how we updated the product strategy," and it will generate a status update based on the morning's meetings, emails and chat threads.

The new AI "key" to access Copilot replaces the menu/application key, right next to the right-hand alt key on most keyboards. Press it, and it launches Copilot, which is built into Windows 11. It provides a chat window prompt for questions or requested actions.

For now, we understand that Mac users have access to Copilot via Teams or the new Outlook for Mac. However, we're pretty sure Mac users will not flock back to Outlook (at least those of us who remember the horror of that email program; once you go Mac, you don't go back).

AI Five Fast Facts

1. A McKinsey survey found that 63% of companies experienced increased revenue after adopting AI into their systems.
2. 35% of Americans believe that AI makes their lives easier, says a study by YouGov and Statista.
3. Pew Research Center reported while more than half (57%) of adults in the United States have heard of ChatGPT, only 14% have tried it.
4. Top 3 industries that adopted Generative AI in the workplace: Marketing and Advertising (37%), Technology (35%), and Consulting (30%), reports Statista.
5. Statista projects the market size for AI-driven robots will reach $77.7 billion by 2030.

Source: The Blogging Wizard

AI Headlines Take 5

Get Ready for a 'Tsunami' of AI at CES | 12/29/23 - Wired
Generative AI shows no signs of quieting down in 2024.

Real estate industry insiders dish about the upcoming year — good and bad | 12/31/23 - Business Observer
Patrick Murphy, founder and CEO of Togal.AI, discusses how AI will impact the construction industry.

Rules of the AI Road for 2024 | 1/4/24 - Forbes
With AI technology continuously evolving, it's vital to understand the underlying rules as things change.

How technology and artificial intelligence are bolstering the battle against wildfires | 1/3/24 - Reuters
Pano AI is one of the new "firetech" startups being used to make it easier to contain wildfires.

Increase Your Creativity with Artificial Intelligence | 12/27/23 - Psychology Today
Learn more about the various ways AI can amplify your innovativeness.

Quote of the week

To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.