The Work AI Can’t Do
A recent piece in The New Yorker made a simple point that stuck with me: for all the attention AI received in 2025, most of our lives didn’t actually change that much. Not because the tech isn’t impressive, but because speed and automation aren’t enough.
This shows up clearly in real estate. AI is very good at organizing information - summarizing reports, drafting language, surfacing patterns. But this work also requires judgment and discernment.
What Judgment Looks Like in Practice
Judgment isn’t instinct. And it isn’t ignoring the data. It’s what happens after the information is assembled.
For example: AI might suggest a listing price for a seller using the highest recent comp that sold last week. But it doesn’t know about the conversation I had with a colleague who is about to list a similar home nearby using an “auction” pricing approach - price low to encourage competition. Nor does AI realize that comp closed before mortgage interest rates moved. Human conversations and market timing don’t show up in a spreadsheet.
Knowing What Not to Fix
AI can help identify neighborhoods in which homes typically get buyer pushback, but it can’t tell you when not to intervene.
Rick and I advise sellers to skip certain upgrades even when the data suggests otherwise. Sometimes a dated kitchen signals opportunity. Sometimes over-renovation narrows the buyer pool. Sometimes the right move is restraint. Discernment is knowing when improvement adds value and when it introduces risk.
Using Technology to Slow Things Down
Efficiency is usually framed as speed. Rick and I see it differently. The real value of AI is that it creates room to slow down where it matters.
Take disclosures. Software can organize hundreds of pages quickly. But deciding how to present them - what to flag early, what to explain verbally, what requires context - that’s our work. A buyer doesn’t need a summary. They need to understand whether an issue is common, costly, negotiable, or a reason to walk away. That interpretation takes attention and a willingness to be careful.
Why Speed Isn’t the Goal
Clients aren’t overwhelmed by a lack of information. They’re overwhelmed by having to decide what matters. That’s especially true when emotions are involved… ie. selling a long-held home, managing timing with a move, or balancing certainty against upside. My role isn’t to push decisions forward. It’s to slow them down enough that the right one becomes obvious.
Where We Draw the Line
AI is improving quickly. We’re seeing agents experiment with AI in ways that can do harm when decisions are made that impact the investment or create health risks. A missed line item in a report can turn into a renegotiation or worse, a legal problem months later. Our clients rely on us to read carefully, ask follow-up questions, and explain consequences in plain language. That responsibility doesn’t get handed off to software.
What Remains
Access to information is no longer the differentiator. What clients need is help understanding what matters and how it applies to their lives, their timing, and their risk tolerance. They need someone who knows when a small issue is routine and when it’s a signal. Someone who can say, with confidence, when to wait, when to act, and when to walk away.
-Alex
