AI is everywhere. It's reshaping industries, accelerating innovation, and changing how millions of people work.
And while AI will transform work, it is crystal clear to me that AI can not replace relationships. Working in real estate has taught me this firsthand.
Great real estate agents are more than just salespeople. Real estate agents help people as they build, and often rebuild, their lives. They act as crisis managers, trusted confidants during divorce, empty-nester therapists, grief counselors, life coaches, matchmakers, and above all, trusted advisors who guide clients through some of life's biggest transitions.
This is not to say that the real estate sector is beyond disruption. In fact, it is a particularly turbulent industry. And yet, the role of real estate agents has survived global pandemics, market ups and downs, shifting mortgage rates, and every other major industry disruption. AI will be no different for real estate agents, or other relationship-based professions.
To be sure, AI is reshaping how we all work. And many workers are understandably anxious.
Relentless reports predicting job loss and economic disruption have perhaps unsurprisingly deepened public skepticism about AI, particularly among young adults and recent college graduates. Numerous commencement speakers who touted AI this graduation season were booed, including both Google’s former and current CEOs.Communities across the country are pushing back against the rapid expansion of AI data centers, raising legitimate concerns about rising energy demands, water consumption, and the environmental impact these massive facilities can have on the places they call home. Even Pope Leo XIV weighed in on the rise of AI, publishing his first encyclical letter, Magnifica Humanitas, which thoughtfully evaluates the future of humanity in the age of AI. All of these concerns have exacerbated the AI trust gap.
However, once a transformative technology is unleashed on society, there's no putting the genie back in the bottle. When Netflix sunsetted DVDs and made it possible for people to stream movies from the comfort of their homes, people stopped going to Blockbuster. When Spotify put a million songs in our pockets, people stopped buying CDs.
AI is also a service that can make people’s lives easier. For example, it's really good at writing code. In my own industry, AI has dramatically lowered the barrier to innovation by empowering real estate professionals to build software and workflows tailored to their unique business needs—something expensive, off-the-shelf software often fails to deliver.
Before AI, if a real estate professional had an idea for a new tool or workflow, they typically needed to hire a software developer, secure funding, and wait months—sometimes even years—for a finished product. Today, that equation has changed. With AI and vibe coding, they can turn an idea into a working prototype in a matter of hours with a fraction of the financial investment once required. I have a colleague who owns a real estate brokerage that now builds all of its technology in-house. Using Claude, he has created dynamic market reports, interactive sales dashboards, and even a custom Gmail widget that allows his agents to access and update the company's CRM without ever leaving their inbox. There's no need to log into another application or juggle multiple browser tabs.
This kind of change isn't unique to real estate. It’s happening in education, finance, manufacturing, and virtually every other industry. No matter your profession, you may spend tremendous amounts of time on administrative work: writing spreadsheet formulas, analyzing documents, sending email, producing marketing content, organizing information, preparing presentations, and tackling repetitive tasks that add little strategic value.
But whether you're an attorney, consultant, plumber, financial advisor, or sales executive, your greatest value doesn’t come from routine administrative work. It comes from solving problems and building relationships.
Tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini can analyze contracts, create reports, summarize research, review documents, and automate a plethora of other tedious tasks. They allow professionals to spend less time on administration and more time serving their clients and building meaningful relationships. But AI isn't replacing the qualities that matter most.
AI can't demonstrate genuine empathy, navigate difficult conversations, inspire confidence, or build lasting relationships. It can't sit across the table from a family deciding whether to move across the country or coach a struggling employee. It can't read the room, recognize when someone is hesitant, or understand the deeply personal circumstances behind many of life's biggest decisions. Those are uniquely human capabilities and always will be.
As AI becomes better at technical tasks, human skills become the differentiator. Communication, empathy, and trust will define the next generation of successful professionals. The future of work isn't choosing between people and AI. It's using AI to amplify the human experience. Because AI will transform work, but it can't replace relationship
