Zillow Has Gone Wild—for AI (www.wired.com)

Zillow's CEO, Jeremy Wacksman, expressed optimism about integrating generative AI into the company's offerings, despite a challenging real estate market that saw a significant drop in home sales last year. While Zillow itself is faring better than the industry average, its valuation has declined sharply since its peak in 2021. Wacksman highlighted that AI is not seen as a threat but as a crucial ingredient to enhance user experience, stating that features like AI-driven home searches and tools such as SkyTour and Virtual Staging are key to remaining competitive. However, only a small percentage of users currently leverage these innovative features, and Zillow faces pressure from AI interfaces like OpenAI's and Google, which could siphon traffic away from its platform. As Zillow navigates these AI opportunities, it must address the challenges posed by this technological evolution and emerging competitors. The potential for Google's AI advancements to disrupt Zillow's market presence looms large, especially with experiments integrating real estate listings into Google search results. Wacksman maintains confidence in Zillow's established partnerships and the human elements of its service, believing these will help the company thrive amidst impending changes. However, the future of real estate interactions may shift significantly as users potentially favor provider-agnostic AI solutions over traditional apps like Zillow.