Founders behind real estate AI tool look to North Island

It's possible that the next real estate listing you see could have been written by an artificial intelligence tool, all with the help of a New Zealand company called Blerb.

Blerb is the creation of copywriter Tim Cronin and developer Jarrad Salmon, who launched the tool last year. They showcased Blerb at the AIMCON AI conference last week, and are hoping to grow their presence in the North Island.

Blerb is designed for the real estate industry. It is able to help real estate agents write listings in minutes.

The AI engine was based on thousands of real estate ads that Cronin wrote over the course of his career and it is now able to create bespoke ads for all property types.

So far, close to 3000 adverts have been filtered through Blerb. According to Tim Cronin, Blerb has been working with Christchurch and South Island customers, but now it's time to take on the North Island.

 "The software's been put through its paces by real estate agents here in my hometown of Christchurch, and it's exciting to see we're adding real value to their business," Cronin says.

He believes there is nothing else like Blerb in New Zealand or even overseas, so the company is banking on its unique first-mover advantage.

While AI is becoming a cause for debate because of its potential to replace jobs, Blerb's cofounders say AI should be considered an opportunity, not a threat.

"Whether we embrace it or not, the world is moving quickly towards automation technology," adds Salmon.

"AI is often presented in doomsday-like stories but it doesn't need to be the case. Automation will help free up human creativity by putting an end to menial and repetitive tasks.

He says that Blerb is in a great position to take AI to the rest of the world.

Salmon adds that the cloud-based AI can help real estate agents to save thousands of hours over the course of their careers.

"Or, if they outsource their writing, that's tens of thousands of dollars in savings. Either way, it's time and money they can spend doing the job they add most value in: helping homeowners sell their properties," Salmon explains.

"This is just one example of many in which AI can automate time-consuming and repetitive tasks to free up human time for the things robots will never replace — the things which require interpersonal skills," he concludes.