Updated on August 14, 2024

AI is a tool. The choice about how it gets deployed is ours.

– Oren Etzioni, Founding CEO of the Allen Institute for AI

Am I allowed to say generative AI is just ok? (For what it’s worth, ChatGPT wrote this email’s subject line…)

Team RR is in the middle of a 6-week block of learning about various generative AI tools to find the best ways we can use the tech to work for us and the alliances we serve.

Between half a dozen courses and lots of trial and error, I have to admit: I don’t feel super-powered yet.

🤔 Can it draft an article? Sure, but it needs quite a bit of human intervention.

🤔 Can it do some research for me? Yes, but if I have to verify all the sources and ensure it’s interpreting the information correctly, I wonder: what’s the point?

🤔 Can it summarize an STR ordinance correctly? It hasn’t for me thus far.

Given all the hype, my expectations were probably too high. Plus, I am spoiled here at RR to have the best humans in their fields on our team whom AI will never beat.

To be fair, maybe the things I’m trying or some of the things our company does aren’t the best use cases. It seems STR hosts are finding more opportunities. According to reports from Hostfully and Hostaway, guest communication is the lowest-hanging fruit ripe for AI picking, followed not too distantly by marketing and pricing – but humans must remain in the loop.

As underwhelmed as I am with gen AI for my own needs now, I am still optimistic and eager to try new tools, like travel assistant Romie or an inbox manager smarter than my existing filters. What would you recommend I try next? How is AI supercharging what you do today? Weigh in in the RR Network >

What Team RR is finding:

Is having this new tool at my fingertips changing everything I do? Not at all. But I have found myself curious in new ways—even if just more playful, expansive, and imaginative. – Dave
The jury is still out for me. I like it for gathering information and resources, but in terms of a replacement for creativity, I’m not a believer (yet). – Tanya
For the most part where I have found ChatGPT to be incredibly valuable is when I need a headstart on something that I have little to no knowledge about. – Garrett

If there’s one thing I’ve taken away from AI so far, it’s that I’m even more optimistic about people. AI will replace many of our tasks, freeing us to be more human and do more of the things that only humans can do, like hospitality and community building.

And who doesn’t want more of that in the world?

Alexa Nota,
COO and Co-Founder of Rent Responsibly