Inman Intel data shows a disconnect between the AI tools offered by brokerages and those actually used by agents, writes Coach Darryl Davis.
Your brokerage firm has announced a new AI suite. There were also slides. There was a demo. There might have been a clap-back line about being AI-first.
Let’s take a look at this week’s actual workflow. Where is the AI?
Not in the brand. It’s not mentioned in the press release. In the actual tab, you can write a product description, draft an email to the buyer, or discuss the seller’s tough objections yourself on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. This tab increases your productivity. And new survey data suggests that for most agents, the tab doesn’t belong at the brokerage firm.
hype gap
A new Inman Intel survey of 435 real estate agents, brokerage leaders, financiers, and proptech entrepreneurs found that 75% of respondents use AI primarily through standard chat interfaces, typing or pasting text into models and reviewing what is returned.
Only 9% reported operating in what Intel calls an agent or integrated environment. In this environment, the model can access files and perform multi-step actions on behalf of the agent.
And the most used tool was not an intermediary platform. 63% of agents and 47% of brokerage leaders said the models they use most often are ChatGPT, Gemini, or the free version of Claude.
Read it twice. Productivity gains are made possible by tools not built, licensed, or sold by brokerages.
If the vendor’s branding outweighs the vendor’s tools, the agent pays the difference. Your time is currency.
why is this important
The real estate industry has been listening to announcements about brokerage AI for the past 18 months. Earlier this year, Compass began migrating agents to a private, proprietary platform that is fast-tracked with AI. Real built the REMAX integration around what company leaders described as the adoption of a technology platform agent. An Inman feature in early May went a step further, asking the impossible question of why the real estate industry keeps deploying AI tools that no one is using.
That’s not a problem for securities companies. Building enterprise AI is difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. Compliance, data security, and integration risk are major concerns, and most brokerage firms spend real money addressing them. But it’s fair to say that the agents who are making significant profits today are mostly making profits outside of the securities stack rather than within it.
Intel’s data also revealed a quieter signal. 13% of people who call themselves AI power users told Intel they use AI to write code for custom apps and tools. It is not a mediating ability. This leaves agents or team leaders writing scripts because the mediation suite doesn’t actually do what is needed.
What to do this week
1. Audit the AI you actually used last week
This is not a suite announced by a securities company. Open tab. Write down what you used it for and how long the task took compared to the previous method. If half of your wins come from a free chatbot you sign up for on your own time, that’s information about where your productivity actually lies.
2. Take your mediation tool seriously enough to test it directly for two weeks
Preparing a presentation of the same list. Follow-up steps for the same buyer. Same neighborhood market updates. If an intermediary tool produces better, faster, more accurate output, use it without hesitation. If not, don’t feel obligated to use a slower tool just because it’s inside the logo on your desk.
3. Learn one prompt structure cold
It’s not 50 hacks. One. Ready prompt for list display. Buyer Dispute Prompt. Market Shift Email Prompt. Intel’s data shows that there is no gain with this tool. The gain is in the operator. If you’re good at the operator part, the rest will be easier.
Agents make AI useful. AI does not create agents. That order hasn’t changed in 40 years, and it still hasn’t.
Brokers are spending real money on AI roadmaps because the recruiting market is looking for stories. That’s fair. Stories matter. Recruitment is important. But don’t confuse stories with workflows.
Your business is not run by a brokerage press release. It’s run by the phone calls you made yesterday, the list you presented this week, and the follow-ups you actually sent. If a free tool can help you do these three tasks faster and more efficiently, then it’s a tool that should sit on your desk. If a branded intermediary suite would be more helpful to you, use it.
The test is the same either way. Did the seller hire you? Did the deal go through? How did your week go?
Anything that doesn’t pass that test is a slide, not a system. Pay attention to the tabs that are actually open. That’s where your AI lives.
Daryl Davis, CSP, is a nationally recognized real estate speaker, bestselling author, and coach with over 40 years of experience in the industry. For more information, visit darrylspeaks.com.
