REAL AI: The great bot blowback, AI stats and facts, headlines, and quote of the week
By Kevin Hawkins with Korey Hawkins | Vol. 3 Issue 45
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The great bot blowback
Real estate agents and brokerages have always chased ways to appear available 24/7, without actually working around the clock. First, it was answering services, cellphones, websites, and now bots for their websites and phones.
Granted, AI is improving rapidly, and firms offering bot solutions are promising to handle everything from lead intake to appointment scheduling.
But here’s the problem: Anytime you place technology between you and a client, you risk breaking the very thing that builds your business: trust.
To bot or not to bot
We’re seeing a major wave of what we’ll call the great bot blowback. Big companies that laid off hundreds or thousands of employees are banking on AI to fill the gap. However, they are now scrambling to rehire.
Across industries, AI tools have been rolled out as miracle workers but are falling short. According to a recent Axios report, companies like Amazon, which have replaced employees with AI, are now discovering that those bots can’t actually do what humans can. They are quietly bringing people back.
Klarna, IBM, and others have discovered the same thing: AI is excellent at automation but sucks at human connection.
Klarna claimed its AI could replace 700 people. But weeks later, the company began rehiring for roles that require empathy, nuance, and sound judgment – traits bots can’t replicate.
History repeats
The pattern is familiar: AI, like so many shiny tech tools before it, overpromises and underdelivers. And when it comes to customer-facing tasks, the cost of getting it wrong is more than just missed opportunities. It’s broken relationships.
Try calling a large company today for help. Odds are, you’ll get stuck in bot purgatory, pressing zero repeatedly just to reach a human – and as we’ve reported – screaming expletives into the phone. Companies say they are saving time. But instead, they’ve created a greater time burn for their customers: it takes forever to get a real person on the phone!
Now imagine that happening on your website or someone calling your brokerage to reach you. A potential buyer lands on your site, only to be met by a chatbot that can’t understand the question, or worse, delivers the wrong information. That lead’s gone, probably for good.
What agents should consider
Use AI to streamline your workflow, not replace your presence. If you want a bot to handle initial contacts, that’s fine, but test it like your business depends on it. Have friends, family, and colleagues poke holes in it. Make sure it actually helps rather than hurts.
In this market, the difference between earning a new client and losing them forever may be due to a bad bot decision. (-Kevin)
AI lied and gave me a receipt
I was watching FBI on Nov 3 and asked Perplexity.ai who the guest star senator was. It confidently answered Elizabeth Mitchell (ironically lives in my town) and even provided a source link. I knew it wasn’t her.
I clicked the link Perplexity attached to its answer, and the page clearly says Sarah Clarke plays Senator Charlotte Hirsch. Perplexity’s explanation? Elizabeth Mitchell appeared “prominently” in initial search results, so it… went with that. In other words, it cited the correct source and still completely ignored the fact.
Why is this a big deal?
Many of us trust Perplexity because it shows sources, well before ChatGPT added that feature. Those visual citations feel like a safety net.
However, if the model prioritizes prominence over proof, the links are merely window dressing.
For real estate pros trying to adopt AI, this is a nightmare scenario: speed over accuracy, confidence over truth.
Okay, yes, I preach cross-checking and verifying AI outputs.
But AI is here to save us time. If we must reread every source to verify basics, it’s not saving anyone anything – until it never does what Perplexity just did. (-Kevin)
AI Facts and Stats
1. Only about 8% of people surveyed said they “always” trust AI search results – KPMG
2. 53% of consumers surveyed reported finding “significant” mistakes on AI searches – Gartner
3. 80% of companies using generative AI said they have seen “no significant bottom-line impact” from using AI – McKinsey
4. 95% of large companies surveyed stated that their AI pilot projects are failing – MIT
5. More than 40% of US-based full-time employees reported receiving AI-generated “workslop” – Harvard Business Review
Source: The Guardian (-Korey)
AI Headlines
‘The REAL AI Guide for Real Estate Agents’ Hits No. 3 on the Amazon Best-Seller List | 11/3/25 RISMedia
Check out our guide with ChatGPT hacks and prompts you can use every day.
The Rise Of AI Fakes Could Erode Trust In Real Estate Marketing | 11/3/25 Inman
The line between authenticity and fantasy is blurring for home buyers and sellers.
Talking to Your Photos: How Chat AI Is Changing Real Estate Listings | 11/2/25 Propmodo
AI is providing both efficiency and new enhancement to the listing process.
Landlords Are Using AI to Make Photos of Nasty Apartments Look Clean and Modern | 11/2/25 Futurism
Ai-altered images are popping up more frequently in real estate.
Apple to Pay Google $1 Billion Per Year for Siri’s Custom Gemini AI Model | 11/6/25 CNET
Siri will soon be powered by Google Gemini.
Q&A with Victor Lund, Founding Partner of WAV Group and Founder and CEO of Fluente | 11/6/25 CityBiz
Victor advises that because of AI, brokerages and MLSs that don’t take control of their data risk losing more than listings – they risk their future. (-Korey)
AI Quote of the Week
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