For commercial realtors hit by high interest rates and low office occupancy, artificial intelligence (AI) has promise as a potential gateway to greater productivity. Real estate agencies are betting that data science can come to the rescue with new efficiencies that could bolster the bottom line. The rise of AI is also fuelling apprehension among brokers and support staff when it comes to the loss of the human touch and the impact on privacy and jobs, as well as possible copyright violations – prompting a push for technologies that can audit the origins of real estate data.
“Everybody is flagging this issue, not just in the real estate sector,” says intellectual-property lawyer Maya Medeiros. “Just because an image or video content is available on the internet doesn’t mean it’s permitted to be used in any way.” Ms.
Medeiros, a partner at Vancouver-based Norton Rose Fulbright, says the benefits of AI can outweigh liability risks, which are manageable if firms implement data-governance programs to single out inaccurate and restricted material. AI vendors are increasingly offering liability insurance and legal indemnity, committing to defend clients sued for alleged improper use of computer-generated data, she adds. Off-the-shelf, due-diligence software for data can cross-reference open-source codes against usage licensing agreements, she explains, but differentiating between protected and copyright-violating content in large image and data sets whose design is not.
