Make Use of ChatGPT
We may not be sitting around wondering how AI (Artificial Intelligence) may affect our industry as home inspectors – but we probably should be.
AI is changing how the world works, and is also changing how our industry is working as well. The primary service out there that is changing things is called ChatGPT.
This is along the same lines as when electronic reports came into play, as well as infrared cameras and other tools. This service is just that – a tool. And if we don’t use it, we will get left behind/ So what is ChatGPT and how can we use it?
What ChapGPT Is
ChapGPT is an artificial intelligence, text-based chatbot. If you ask it to write something or tell us something, it will formulate a response with text. It can answer questions, compile lists, and generate paragraphs of writing. It is extremely useful, extremely complex, and very likely will revolutionize how we do business.
There are three ways that we will discuss how home inspectors can utilize this tool. These three ways are: writing report narratives, writing website content, and writing newsletters and presentations. So let’s discuss the first way we can use ChatGPT: writing reports.
1. Writing Reports
Before you start to worry that you will be replaced, let’s put your mind at ease. ChapGPT is not taking over the home inspection industry. Think of this as a great supplemental tool instead of something that is going to write your whole report. And it will save you time, especially if you are new to home inspections.
For example, let’s say you inspected a house with a bowed foundation wall. You could type in something like, “Write a home inspection report narrative about how bowed foundation walls are bad.” As shown in the picture, you can see that ChatGPT will generate a narrative. But you may notice that it is overly objective. It does not identify the issue. That is up to the inspector. And it does not give an opinion. Those are limitations with AI.
So you can begin your report by writing with something like, “Bowed foundation wall noted at the west side of the home, recommend evaluation by a qualified contractor because a bowed foundation wall can be a serious issue. Here’s why.” Then from what ChatGPT generated, you might just want to choose a portion of what’s written. Sometimes it writes way more than you need or is a bit wordy. So you can choose bits and pieces from it.
Explaining why something is bad is oftentimes where we lack the ability, especially as new inspectors, to write a good narrative. And it’s probably the longest part of our report. ChatGPT can really help with that. But you do have to read thoroughly what it generates. The information may not always be correct. If you do not know some information, don’t rely on ChatGPT to give you the answer. ChatGPT is not a replacement for a home inspector’s knowledge and responsibility.
If you don’t like a response given by ChatGPT, you can have it regenerate a new response. And remember that it matters how you ask it. For example, instead of writing “Write a home inspection report narrative about how bowed foundation walls are bad,” if you just asked it “Write a narrative about how bowed foundation walls are bad,” you might just get a funny story about a bowed wall, not something you would use in an inspection report. Or if you ended it with how the bowed foundation walls are “serious” instead of “bad”, then you won’t get the opinion you may be looking for. “Serious” can mean many different things. You need to give AI an opinion to work with.
2. Writing Content
Perhaps you are thinking of making your own website, or you have a website and want to write blogs to help your SEO. Coming up with content may be difficult. When our team at Full View creates websites for clients, we notice that the hardest information to get is often a description for the About Us page of their website. People don’t like talking about themselves. So if you are trying to do this, ChatGPT can help. And for blogs, you can ask it for example, “Write a unique 150 word blog on doorknobs,” and it will create the blog within a few seconds.
Let’s address some misconceptions about AI that people have. Some people say that you should avoid using AI because Google hates AI content and will penalize your website if it includes AI content. None of that is true. First of all, Google has stated that it has accepted AI content for years. Here is a quote from Danny Sullivan, public liaison for Google Search “Our focus on the quality of content, rather than how content is produced, is a useful guide that has helped us to deliver reliable, high quality results to users for years.” Google also says, “Automation has long been used to generate helpful content such as sports scores, weather forecasts and transcripts.”
One of the things that Google did recently was come out with what is called the helpful content algorithm update. So what that means is, it doesn’t care where the content comes from, as long as it’s helpful. If you write bad content as a human, and AI writes helpful content, Google will assist that AI-generated helpful content to gain higher ranking than your human-written content. Google cares that content is unique and helpful.
3. Writing Newsletters and Presentations
ChatGPT can help you make presentations with ease. It won’t create images, but you can use Dall-E for that. But it can write you all the wording for the presentation. For example, maybe you are going to hold a first-time homebuyer seminar and need an outline. You give ChatGPT specific instructions like, “Write me a presentation with slides for first-time homebuyers about home inspections.” And watch it generate your slides. You will want to make some tweaks here and there, but overall it will save you a lot of time and mental energy.
Same thing goes for newsletters. You could tell ChatGPT, “Write an email newsletter about spring maintenance.” And it will. You don’t have to hire an outside company to write them for you.
Using ChatGPT Is Beneficial
There are many other uses for ChatGPT that we haven’t covered in this article. But these three that we discussed, writing reports, content, newsletters, and presentations, are some that you should really consider using ChatGPT for. It can be a useful tool for any home inspector and get you ahead in the game.
Just remember to check for inaccuracies and verify the data. Insert idioms here and there (as it does not know how), and use real speech with opinions. Try it today. Go to chat.openai.com.