AI changes your work but will not replace the human touch
Artificial Intelligent is an inevitable reality in conveyancing but used wisely, it will enhance the work of conveyancers and the experience they offer to customers.
ARTIFICIAL Intelligence is set to play an important role in conveyancing, but not by replacing practitioners.
Instead, it will make conveyancers more productive, allowing them to maintain service – and their fees.
That’s the view of ATI Global founder and tech titan Christian Beck, in Australian Conveyancer’s latest Settlement Day podcast.
Beck’s companies include AC parent triSearch, which provides practice management and search software for conveyancers.
“What I would hope for is that as we go forward, we focus on doing more extensive checking and not reducing price,” he said.
“If I compare Australia to, say, the UK or Canada, there are quite a few risks that happen when most people buy a house that aren’t really addressed in Australia.
“Things like contaminated land or boundary issues are often insured against or reported overseas, but not commonly in Australia.
“I think technology helping (the client) to be better informed on those decisions would be good.”
Beck says AI could also reach beyond official records to sources like local media and suburban chat groups.
“For example, what are the neighbours like?” Beck adds. “What’s going to be built around you?
“A lot of things can just be done better with technology. And I think we’re very focussed on helping conveyancers and lawyers… to make that more accessible and improve the quality of the checking.”
Beck believes there are property checks worth performing that are overlooked because of the cost.
“But as house prices go up the losses are higher If you get something like that wrong,” he says.
“So therefore, it’s more worthwhile to do… and I think that AI can probably help with that.”
Fellow panellist, real estate expert John McGrath agrees AI could certainly be used for what he called “softer” searching.
“What’s the percentage of tenants to owner occupiers?” he asks. “Who are the neighbours?”
And property lawyer Jared Zak likes the prospect of AI taking over more of the grunt work, giving practitioners more time to talk with clients.
“Being automated with AI, that’s such a great thing because that frees us up for more conversations,” he says, “and that human element that people crave.”
There’s the irony: robots not taking over from humans but giving humans more time to interact. A theme explored further in our new podcast.
View the full podcast here:
