What does AI know about commercial property? And is the information reliable? Assuming that many business owners will increasingly be turning to the power of AI for answers to their commercial property questions, I recently carried out some research to see if it’s up to scratch. I fed a few of the most common questions clients often ask me (see my FAQ page for examples) into platforms such as Google Gemini and ChatGPT, to assess what information comes back. If I’m honest, the results are mixed!
In my own work with business owners, I only ever like to ask a question for which I already know the answer. So, if you’re going to ask a question of Google, via AI, you need to be careful about what you ask, in order to get the answer you’re expecting. If you are using AI to support you in your business, whether to ask questions about commercial premises or something else, I wrote this blog to provide some guidance on not just what to ask, but how to ask it, and how to assess what you get back.
Step 1: Search
This is where you need to consider the question you are asking and which platform or platforms you are using to gather information. I recommend asking more than one, for instance, to ensure that you can cross-check the information you are getting back. Another factor to consider is whether you are looking for brand new information or to reinforce your existing knowledge? Is there any bias in your question, such as ‘What is the best way to search for new commercial premises?’ or is it purely a factual prompt such as ‘What is a break clause in a lease?’
Step 2: Identify
As a rule of thumb, unless you feed in a lot of information about your current business, commercial premises, and lease terms, any response you get back from AI will be generic. Don’t forget to take the information you receive with a pinch of salt, and remember it won’t necessarily take into account your particular circumstances. Can you include terms such as ‘commercial’ to avoid information on residential lease agreements, or ‘UK’ to ensure you’re not receiving information that could be confused with legalities in other countries? Add as many qualifiers as possible to avoid confusion.
Step 3: Qualify
Ideally, this is when you really need expert input to get into the specifics. If you are doing this by yourself, gather the information you’ve collected in answer to your question and assess what is relevant to you. Dig into the information sources – you should be able to ask your AI platform to provide links, so that you can check out where facts have come from. Discount anything that doesn’t appear to come from a recognised source. Don’t forget to use your common sense, too! A request for a ‘commercial lease template’ might return something reasonably accurate, but it can only ever act as a starting point. Your circumstances and requirements as a business need to be assessed and used to tailor a document like this, so that the terms serve your business needs both now and in the future.
Step 4: Interpret
This is the ideal time to dig out any existing lease agreements, for example, or any other pertinent business documentation that relates to your AI fact-finding mission. If you are doing this yourself, some questions to ask are:
– Does this information apply to my business?
– What might be missing?
– What do I know for sure, already?
– What am I unsure about?
– Who can I ask for input?
Step 5: Apply
A word of warning – the waters get murkier from here, especially where premises acquisition and commercial leases are concerned. Consider the risks of applying what you have learned – is this an area you feel confident about, or are you concerned about any potential risks? If you haven’t contacted me yet, this would be an ideal time to book in a free call with me and let me help you sense-check your approach. I may be biased, but I believe whilst AI and the internet serve as a fantastic signposting exercise, there’s no replacement for a human brain (especially one with over 4 decades of experience!). Click here to book a call and let’s get to know each other.