Zillow is enhancing its search tool with artificial intelligence to do away with tedious filtering of locations and other elements. You can now simply ask for a place that is within commuting distance of a location and the tool will take care of the rest for you.
Enhanced AI tools, available on Zillow’s mobile app, rely on plain language rather than drop-down menus and other menus. The idea is that you don’t have to specify affordability, proximity to schools, commute time and related issues. You can explain what you want as if you were talking to a human.
For example, Zillow described how you can ask for “homes within 30 minutes of Millennium Park,” “3-bedroom homes near Roosevelt High School,” or “apartments near Denver Union Station” for properties that are within a certain distance of your office, a good school, or a park you like. The goal is to make it more intuitive to find your ideal home. It’s a linguistic update to Zillow’s current AI features, which currently perform tasks like estimating a home’s value and sharing AI-powered Showcase listings that tour the interior of a home.
“Zillow uses AI in practical ways to help people find homes, from simplifying the home search to personalizing the user experience,” said Josh Weisberg, SVP of AI at Zillow. “Search is a cornerstone of our platform, and we’re always improving it to make it easier for users to find homes that meet their specific needs.”
IA Real Estate
As AI becomes more integrated into platforms like Zillow, the process of searching for a home could become less painful — even if the idea that buying a home is easy seems more like a hallucination than anything an AI has ever produced.
Zillow’s AI will also use conversations and requests people submit for further training. Zillow says that as more people use the platform, the AI will be better able to identify places people might actually want to buy or rent.
It's unclear whether real estate agents will view Zillow's AI update as a win because it could shorten the home-hunting process or a problem because it could undermine the relationship they're trying to build with potential homebuyers.
“The rise of AI in real estate signals a broader shift in how people will search for homes in the future,” Weisberg said. AI could ultimately make the home-hunting process more personalized and efficient. But don't expect it to do anything with your down payment.
