AI and Appraisals

[Airstream]

Not sure if you have been following this on the news, but a few water plants have been hacked. One in Minnesota, and I believe one in Michigan. Now with AI it has become easier for people to hack into systems. So they recommended these plants in particular "unplug" from the internet.

This got me thinking about the future of AI. More and more states are putting up a fuss about these data centers due to water, electricity and land use. I can understand the reticence. But I also wonder if people aren't going to turn against AI because of the jobs lost. I personally see a lot of benefits, but there are clearly some downsides. And I got to thinking with AI being able to hack and get into data are we going to see the day we go back to an "unplugged" (or relatively unplugged world) in order to protect privacy and security.

So maybe if that is the case could it be the AI craze will be a bit more muted than we all expect? I just installed a generator for my house; not because of AI but because we have a high water table and I can't risk our sump pump going out in the spring, etc. But if AI can hack into water plants, it can hack into electric suppliers as well. Might come in handy for other reasons.

I don't have specific opinion on this, but it gets me thinking. What really is the future of appraising if AI gets a bad name? "Maybe AI isn't necessarily the 'savior" we may think it is. And maybe it can cause so many problems that we simply rebel and have to deliberately unplug to stop the craziness." Analog world here we come

 

[Overimprovement]

Unless people conflate AVMs with true AI, much of the damage to the future of the residential appraiser has already been done. AVMs, PDCs, apps that measure and sketch your home, and massive databases are not really true AI, they have been here for some time. And waivers of course are not AI at all. If the GSEs employ AI behind the scenes to approve more waivers, would the public ever know?

 

[Surf Cat]

If the GSEs employ AI behind the scenes to approve more waivers, would the public ever know?

With the rampant rise of AI, I believe the public would be more aware and expect every business to be diving in and using AI..... as they are using it themselves.

In regards to appraisals, I believe the public is completely clueless about not only the process of what an appraiser does to build a report, but a middleman AMC taking approximately half of the appraiser's fee. Of course there's no mention of the AMC in the loan docs as the service fee is bundled and just indicates the appraisal fee.

When I used to work for AMC's, I would step into homes and sometimes have the owner state to me "why are you so expensive?!" Or, "I could do what you do for a lot less!"

In the beginning, I would honor the agreement with the AMC's that I was not to mention anything about my portion of the fee. Towards the end, I didn't care... I would let them know of my fee. The owners that asked had no clue of a middleman..... they still don't.

 

[glenn walker]

AI does the thinking for people and that's what users want.

 

[chad hampton]

Users ain’t too bright, are they?

 

[Elliott]

Last week I asked AI about the cost of energy for a new Data Center....turns out they can run off a on-site natural gas generators at the same low cost as industrial customers (4-cents/KWH), so the 'driving up the cost' for the neighborhood is false. The 'use of water' is also false, since the "water" and coolant is re-used or refrigerant is added (Data centers use the same amount of water as a restaurant or golf course). The 'eco-freaks' are still alive and well, flying off in private jets to world wide conference and pushing the 'data center are bad narrative.'

AI, AMCs and Appraisals? "The automobile only put horses out of work that didn't learn to drive."

 

[J Grant]

1. These are results for ask AI cost of energy for AI data center.
   Search instead for ask AI cot of energy for a data center?
   • A single NVIDIA H100 GPU draws ~700 W; an 8‑GPU rack draws ~5.6 kW just for compute, before cooling and networking techplustrends.com.
   • AI‑optimized racks can draw 60+ kW per rack vs. 5–10 kW in standard server racks www.aitooldiscovery.com.
   • Large AI sites can require 100–750 MW of continuous power techplustrends.com.
   • Meta’s Hyperion campus is planned for 5 GW of continuous power — three times New Orleans’ total electricity use www.aitooldiscovery.com.

What AI search did Elliott use - the one for RW climate change deniers? What exact question did he ask it?

This was just a snippet from a quick AI search about the costs and energy consumption of data centers. Anyone can look it up themselves.

 

[glenn walker]

Users ain’t too bright, are they?

No but most get headaches thinking and AI gets the headaches for them. Today people want instant results and anyone born after 2010 has been able to bypass thousands of years of thinking and research we're now entering the Twilight Zone.

 

[chad hampton]

Don’t disagree with that. A new generation of idiots. UBI can’t get here quick enough.

 

[BRCJR]

I have asked AI to provide a value on a specific property (several different ones). Not large urban, smaller city, and included information from an appraisal report such as, but not limited to, GLA, condition, quality, etc. It is very uncanny the slight difference in the opinion of value in the report vs AI. I actually had one come out exact. Made me wonder if the appraiser used AI......