The Power AI Offers in Multifamily
This originally appeared in Transforming Cities AM. For the latest updates, visit and get on the list for quick Saturday morning reads that focus on multifamily, marketing, and development.
Recently, there's been a lot of speculation around chat and imaginative AI tools.?
Maybe a few too many posts about it, if I'm being honest.
But seriously, I've found myself in both camps already: this is silly and won't go anywhere, but also, wow, this stuff is quite potent.
John Gonzalez?was one of the first who poked around with AI art. And he got me thinking.
How can this tool help us do our jobs better? Or is it all just fluff?
Enter Midjourney.
There are a few tools out there (Midjourney,?DALL·E 2) that do similar things, but at their core, they use a massive database of images and styles to generate "new" versions of art.
The software can be used in a variety of ways. Using the lens of multifamily development:
This doesn't even touch on?ChatGPT?and the possibilities around language for marketing teams. But that's another conversation entirely.?
I've found these tools are only as innovative as those using them.?
Prompting, as we're beginning to see, may become a new skill requirement on design and marketing teams.
Example 1: "James Bond themed apartment lobby"
One of my favorite starting points with AI is to lob something big at it. You never know what you're going to get, so starting macro offers a low barrier to entry.
Without an emphasis on style, color, or mood, it determined that I was seeking something evocative and masculine. It makes sense.
But what if I get?more specific?
Example 2: "Ornate hotel lobby with a coffee bar, study space, and midcentury modern furniture"
By default, Midjourney supplies a user with four individual "takes" on the prompt. From there, you can continue refinding or even select one, in particular, to upscale.?
Imagine being on a design team tasked with finding inspiration for a lobby to fit the bill of this prompt.
You'd spend hours looking through galleries, Pinterest collections, etc. A lot of time for what is essentially a mood board.
Instead, Midjourney gave me "exactly" what I was looking for. And if I felt it didn't, I could simply adjust the prompt even further.
What comes next?
I never rely on a crystal ball, but I sense this is here to stay. Unless we see a drastic legal stance taken that ultimately blocks tools like this, I don't see a scenario where teams won't begin relying on chat and art AI solutions daily.?
My team at Authentic is already playing around with AI art in marketing and website design mockups to avoid the laborious step of finding stock photos.
The designs are better and more tailored than they would have ever been.
Is that a bad thing?