Almost half of letting agents are feeling optimistic about the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) tools across the industry, research from Vouch and Goodlord reveals.

Just under half (45%) of letting agents think that AI tools such as ChatGPT will help them in the future with four out of 10 (39%) feeling neutral about the topic of AI, saying they neither agree nor disagree with the statement that ‘AI tools will prove beneficial going forward’.

NEW TECHNOLOGY

Seven out of 10 (70%) agents said they believed lettings professionals were open to the adoption of new technology with six out of 10 (60%) believing that the lettings industry should use technology more to improve the customer experience.

However, the Vouch and Goodlord survey also revealed an education gap – especially around ‘renttech’ terms.

More than eight out of 10 (83%) agents said they weren’t familiar or were only somewhat familiar with the term ‘Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Technology’ – the process of converting an image of text – such as bank statements – into a format that is machine readable.

And only a quarter (24%) of agents were familiar with the term ‘Identity Document Validation Technology (IDVT)’ – a way of authenticating documents which agencies have been allowed to do since 2022.

OPEN BANKING

The term that ranked highest for familiarity was ‘Open Banking’ – the technology used to safely verify income and confirm the financial security of prospective tenants – with just under half (46%) of agents familiar with only 16% unfamiliar.

Frankie Malpass, Vouch

Frankie Malpass, Product Lead at Vouch, says: “AI is here to stay – whether you’re using renttech providers that check IDs for facial recognition, writing marketing ads with the help of ChatGPT, or using AI-led tools to do 360-degree virtual tours.

“The trick for the future is how to use AI to your advantage.

“It’s therefore great to see just how many letting agents are feeling positive about the advent of everyday AI and are open to adopting new technologies.”