NEW YORK—Verizon (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ) today announced the next step in its ongoing transformation, replacing complexity and friction with simplicity and true customer choice. The company is putting its customers first—existing and new—by redefining loyalty and eliminating activation and upgrade fees. As part of the customer-centered reboot, Verizon is also launching “Verizon Simplicity,” the industry’s most simple and cost-effective plan. With Simplicity, there are no network tiers; everyone gets Verizon’s best 5G network. Also available starting today, the company launched Verizon One, a streamlined plan that combines Mobility and Home on one bill with taxes and fees included.
“We’re fundamentally reshaping Verizon inside and out to put the customer at the center of everything we do. We’re listening, designing for them, and moving faster than we ever have before,” said Dan Schulman, Verizon CEO. “For too long, this industry has burdened people with complex plans, forced upgrades they don’t need, and so-called ‘rewards’ with tons of caveats. We are working to ensure everything that we do is simple, clear and delightful.”
Today’s announcement is part of Verizon’s multi-year transformation, redefining its relationship with customers now and for the long-term.
“With today’s news, we’re doubling down on what customers actually want: simpler experiences, less friction and more rewards for being a customer. We’re putting meaningful value back in their pockets, and making it feel easy and intuitive,” said Alfonso Villanueva, Interim CEO, Verizon Consumer Group and Verizon Chief Transformation Officer.
Customer-first and industry-first
Verizon Loyalty: The only loyalty program for ALL customers on any plan.
The end of Device Upgrade and Activation fees. The beginning of Verizon Dollars & Verizon Shine. Rollout starts today.
Goodbye activation and upgrade fees: In an industry first, all postpaid customers on all phone and connected device plans can opt-in to Verizon’s Loyalty program and say goodbye to activation and upgrade fees—that’s up to $40 in fees per device. Verizon is removing these common industry charges for all postpaid customers. Opt-in in one simple step through the My Verizon app.
Hello Verizon Dollars: A first-of-its-kind program that rewards customers with 3% back in Verizon Dollars every single month, just for being a customer. Starting in July, Verizon Dollars can be redeemed for devices, accessories or up to 5x for each Verizon Dollar from top brands including Sephora, Hilton, Marriott, Starbucks and more. “Customers reward us with their loyalty every month. Verizon Dollars lets us reward them back, on their terms,” said Villanueva. “Not just some customers, on some plans, but for all. Customers earn Dollars every single month just for being with us, and we let them choose how to spend it.”
Wake up to Verizon Shine! Every Monday, every day, all year-round: The loyalty program that gives customers a reason to look forward to Monday, all year-round. All Verizon customers on any plan can enter weekly for a chance to win once-in-a-lifetime experiences, alongside daily drops including tickets to concerts and sporting events, exclusive merchandise, dining vouchers, gift cards and more.
Once-in-a-lifetime Verizon Shine sweepstakes will drop every Monday, providing customers with a chance to enter to win a diverse lineup of all-expense paid experiences across music, food, culture and sports:
June 22: FIFA World Cup 2026™ Final: Trip to New York for a VIP Event with David Beckham & tickets to the Final FIFA World Cup 2026™ match
June 29: VIP experience at Outside Lands festival, including a meet & greet with artist Sienna Spiro
July 6: Exclusive New York City food tour with James Beard Award-winning chef Andrew Zimmern
July 13: Flyaway trip to experience the first-ever NFL game in Australia
July 20: Flyaway & VIP Access to Netflix House Dallas
July 27: VIP experience with surprise musical artist to be revealed on June 23!
August 3: Flyaway experience to France for 2026 NFL Paris game
August 10: Young Miko tickets and meet & greet at Climate Pledge Arena
Additional once-in-a-lifetime experiences dropping on Mondays will be coming soon, including:
A WILD dance tutorial with KATSEYE in Paris, France
Flyaway experience to NHL Global Series in Finland
An all-expenses paid holiday weekend in NYC including dance lessons with the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall
Verizon pays your wireless bill for a year! * *
And the Verizon Shine fun isn’t just Mondays. Every day of the week, customers can visit the My Verizon app to score daily drops. The first month alone will include:
Free coffee from Starbucks
Free Dunkin’ treats
Free special sandwich from Arby’s
Exclusive FIFA World Cup 2026 merchandise
Free hour at TopGolf
Free gift cards to Ulta
Free Amazon gift cards
Last-chance tickets to FIFA World Cup 2026 matches dropping on June 22 for customers in host cities
Enroll in loyalty today via the My Verizon app and check out verizon.com/loyalty for more information.
Verizon Simplicity: The industry’s most simple and cost-effective plan
The Simplicity Plan: A breakthrough offering at $45, with an initial promotional offer of $30 per line for mobile customers that switch to Verizon.
Every Simplicity customer gets Verizon’s best 5G network * . This includes premium performance with 5G Ultra Wideband, Verizon’s fastest network, making the nation’s most reliable 5G network the standard for every Simplicity customer, with no upcharge. “With Simplicity, we’re democratizing our network at a thoughtful price point that meets our customers’ needs and drives responsible growth,” says Villanueva. “One more thing to give customers peace of mind.”
Simplicity moves beyond tiered network confusion and complicated phone subsidies and provides a simple choice for mobile service. With the best networks for everyone at an affordable price, including unlimited 5G Ultra Wideband data, 10GB of premium mobile hotspot, roaming in Canada and Mexico and satellite texting all standard. And the option to add home internet starting at $35 a month.
With Simplicity, customers pay only for connectivity, and everything from there is a choice.
“Simplicity” offers total device freedom, letting customers keep their own phone, buy a new one, or save by getting a certified pre-owned device. Or, customers can upgrade to the latest phone every year with Simplicity Plus or Simplicity Pro.
There’s also the option to add customized bundles specific to your unique needs—like the “For Movie and Show Lovers bundle” that has everything you need to watch your favorite movies, series, live sports and more with Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ (With Ads) and Netflix & HBO Max (With Ads). Or the Travel bundle with Global Calling Plus and 3 Travel Pass Days, allowing customers to build a plan that fits their specific lifestyle rather than paying for things they don’t need. That’s the plan. Simplicity is the new standard.
To announce these new offerings, Verizon launched a robust 360 marketing campaign featuring members of the original Austin Powers cast, including Mike Myers in his iconic role as antagonist Dr. Evil. In addition, a Spanish-language campaign brings back the original cast of Yo soy Betty, la fea to satirize industry complexity.
Verizon One: Mobility and Home—One plan, one bill
Also available starting today, the company launched Verizon One, a streamlined plan that combines Mobility and Home designed specifically for customers new to Verizon. Built for affordability and ease, and powered by * Verizon’s best and fastest 5G network and its award-winning 100% fiber network, the plan is the easiest way to connect services. With one truly combined plan for mobile and home, one price and one bill, it’s the most affordable and connected experience for customers.
With a single, transparent monthly bill for just $70 (taxes and fees included) and managed entirely through the My Verizon app, this unified plan delivers a frictionless experience from setup to payment.
This is a continuation of a series of transformational steps Verizon has been taking to bring simple, customer-centered offerings to market.
Simplicity and Verizon One build on the success of myPlan which customers can continue to enjoy, along with the new Verizon Loyalty program. Sign up for The Simplicity or Verizon One plan today and start taking advantage of Verizon Loyalty by opting in through the My Verizon app.
Today’s announcement is anticipated to be accretive to revenue and EBITDA growth and drive continued churn reduction. There is no change to the company’s 2026 financial guidance.

By this time next year, Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch intends to have added Roku to his already expansive media empire. Should the acquisition go through, Fox will gain control of Roku’s modest library of original programming, and the newly combined company will become “the third-largest player in U.S. television” in terms of viewing share. But the most significant thing that Murdoch buys with this deal is direct access to the 100 million households that make up Roku’s user base.
It’s precisely because Roku and Fox are very different kinds of companies that a merger between the two could have a major impact on our modern media landscape. Murdoch has a vested interest in putting a positive spin on the situation — the platform will remain “open” and “partner friendly,” per the announcement — but it’s very much another instance of corporate consolidation that will reshape what consumers watch, perhaps without them ever realizing it.
Fox’s desire to acquire Roku makes a lot of sense when you recall how long Murdoch has been trying to establish a solid presence in the streaming wars. In 2020, Fox bought the free, ad-supported streaming (FAST) platform Tubi, and last year, the company launched its own dedicated subscription service focused on news and live sports. Following news of the deal, Murdoch told investors that he plans to keep Fox and Roku running as two separate entities. The Roku Channel (Roku’s signature FAST service) might not wind up being folded into Tubi, but Murdoch has designs to turn Roku into a doorway to all things Fox.
Both Murdoch and Roku founder, chairman, and CEO Anthony Wood have made it clear that Fox-branded content will be more prominently featured on Roku’s homepage after the acquisition. Wood told investors that “promoting Fox-owned and operated properties on the Roku homescreen” is a key component of the companies’ plan to increase profits. Murdoch added that he expects Roku’s viewership to grow in the US specifically because of Fox content’s presence on the service. Films and series produced by other companies won’t disappear entirely from the platform because the sheer breadth of Roku’s current library is a core part of its appeal to consumers. But it feels more than likely that Fox Sports and Fox News will be some of the very first things people see whenever they interact with Roku’s tech.
The beauty of Roku as it currently exists is its overall simplicity compared to its competitors. When you open the Roku app, it presents you with a small selection of top picks, a list of other streaming services you can access through Roku, and one large ad — all of which makes it feel like the interface is gently trying to help you find things to watch. But during their investor call, Murdoch and Wood stressed that they want to generate more ad revenue from Roku’s homescreen by featuring more of Fox’s content. And that kind of push could effectively turn Roku into a place that feels more attuned to its owner’s conservative politics.
Roku’s value lies in its infrastructure and consumer viewing data
Post-merger, Roku would become the latest example of a moneyed Trump ally buying control of a massive part of the media ecosystem. It took less than a year for Paramount and its associated properties like CBS News and 60 Minutes to be remade in David Ellison’s image. And he obviously intends to do the same with Warner Bros. Discovery when his bid to acquire that studio ultimately closes. Fox’s bid to buy Roku for $22 billion still needs to receive regulatory approval, but chances of the deal being cleared feel high given the Department of Justice’s recent receptiveness to massive media megamergers involving the president’s friends.
Murdoch is trying to do something different with Roku, whose value lies in its infrastructure and consumer viewing data as opposed to the films and series it makes. Murdoch can’t exactly strong-arm competitors like Apple and Amazon into putting out programming that aligns with his political views. And removing other companies’ subscription services from Roku would push consumers away to alternative streaming devices. Instead, it seems as if Murdoch wants to use Roku’s digital real estate to expose Fox’s content to as large an audience as possible. It’s hard to imagine every single Roku user suddenly becoming a Fox News obsessive, but more people will watch it if the platform makes that programming more easily accessible.
This particular scenario — millions of viewers casually consuming Fox content simply because it’s been served up to them — feels plausible because of how thoroughly Roku has already cemented itself in the streaming space. People didn’t buy their Roku-enabled televisions thinking that they were inviting the Fox Corporation into their home. But that’s exactly how all of this is going to shake out if Murdoch gets his way. Given Murdoch’s ties to Trump and this administration’s commitment to pushing the media toward the right, it seems like Roku will soon be a Fox company. And while consumers might not be able to do anything to prevent the deal, there are still other streaming platforms they can jump to.

Michael Wayland | CNBC
After growing to become one of the largest used car retailers in the U.S., Carvana is expanding into the new vehicle market.
The company has quietly purchased seven new vehicle franchises since last year that primarily sell Stellantis ‘ Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram brands, including a location in Arizona that has become the automaker’s largest volume store in the U.S.
Dealers and industry experts said they believe the move could significantly disrupt, if not reshape, the century-old new vehicle franchised dealer system.
“Carvana entering the new vehicle franchise business may be one of the most disruptive forces that auto retailing has seen in the U.S. market in decades,” John Murphy, a longtime Wall Street analyst and automotive consultant, told CNBC.
The U.S. franchised dealership system — which includes 16,990 retailers that topped $1.3 trillion in sales last year, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association — has historically been reluctant to change. However, dealers have grown more adaptable in recent years as a means of survival, including during the pandemic and with the rise of publicly traded dealership groups.
watch now
Carvana’s first new car dealership for Stellantis in Casa Grande, Arizona, has grown quickly. It sold more than 700 new vehicles last month, according to Stellantis figures shared with dealers and provided to CNBC.
That made it the bestselling store nationally and compares with an average of roughly 30 to 50 monthly sales the store was doing before Carvana purchasing it early last year, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Carvana and its CEO, Ernie Garcia, have declined to comment about the franchised stores or details of the businesses ahead of a media event this week at which the retailer is expected to disclose its plans.
Carvana: From vending machines to online used car leader
Carvana’s locations, many of which feature its signature large car vending machines, have historically acted as delivery and drop-off points where customers can pick up vehicles they purchased online or turn in a vehicle they sell to the company. And up until last year, those vehicles had been used cars, trucks and SUVs that were largely bought from auctions and individual consumers.
Adding the new vehicle business not only provides additional revenue for the company, it opens up other avenues for Carvana to more easily purchase used vehicles from their new vehicle customers and through exclusive auctions only open to franchised dealers.
“That is a significant game changer in the secondary market,” Murphy said regarding the private auctions. “If that expands to other brands, that is going to be an advantage.”
Jeff Greenberg | Universal Images Group | Getty Images
It also helps Carvana better capitalize on the complete lifecycle of a vehicle. The dealership model is comprised of four main areas of growth: new, used, parts and service, and finance and insurance.
Carvana has previously covered used sales and F&I, including selling consumer auto loans it originates to institutional investors and partner banks, such as Ally Financial , to maintain liquidity. Adding the new franchises is expected to bring Carvana into the other areas as well.
“After stabilizing their core business, I think they realized, by looking at the franchise model, that there was a significant amount of revenue and gross profit opportunity that their business model didn’t even contemplate,” said Brian Gordon, president of dealer advisor and broker Dave Cantin Group.
Dealers adapt or ‘be irrelevant’
Despite Carvana’s current status, which includes a market cap of more than $70 billion, significantly higher than that of Stellantis, there are challenges to selling new cars compared with used.
Unlike used vehicles, which Carvana has specialized in selling online, the sales of new vehicles are more regulated state by state. The franchised owners also act as a business partner to most automakers operating in the U.S.
In some states, such as Michigan, the only way to legally purchase a new vehicle is through a franchised dealer — something direct-to-consumer companies such as Tesla and Rivian have battled with varying results.
An annual study by Cox Automotive, which supports franchised auto dealers, found that most buyers don’t want an all-online purchase or a fully in-person transaction. They want a blend of online convenience with in-store interaction.
Franchised dealers also must adhere to far more regulations and rules from the automakers. They range from showroom layouts and what brands they can sell at certain stores to automaker-defined allocations of vehicles and service and repair requirements, which Carvana does not currently offer for customers.
Not all are mandates, but many automakers incentivize retailers through vehicle allocation as well as financial incentives for offering such services and meeting their requirements.
Carvana is already operating a bit differently though than most dealers, as Stellantis has approved it as a certified website provider for the automaker, which means it doesn’t need to go through an approved third-party company, according to four people familiar with the decision, who requested anonymity to speak about matters that have not been made public.
“It’s bred out of desperation,” said a Stellantis dealer who asked for anonymity to be able to speak freely about the automaker, which has drastically lost U.S. market share in recent years. “It’s given Carvana an opportunity to come into the new car space.”
Stellantis, in an statement to CNBC, said Carvana operates as a “corporate owner” of its brands, similar to other large publicly traded companies such as Lithia and AutoNation .
“We apply the same consistent standards and criteria to all dealer partners, and any organization that meets our qualifications is eligible to operate as a franchisee,” the company said, adding that Stellantis “certifies tools and services that will enhance our program and be beneficial to our network. All certified providers must complete a rigorous onboarding process and meet program standards and requirement.”
Carvana’s foray into new vehicles and its rapid growth have been a discussion between Stellantis’ current dealers and the company, according to Stellantis National Dealer Council Chairman Sean Hogan.
He said competition is always good for the consumer, which is why the franchised dealer model was created, but there are a lot of outstanding questions about Carvana’s new vehicle strategy.
“I’m curious to see what their strategy is and, in the long run, I think competition is good. So, if they’re doing something better than we are, then we will need to adapt, or we’re going to be irrelevant,” said Hogan, vice president of Sierra Auto Group in California.
In JD Power’s annual U.S. Sales Satisfaction Index for franchised dealers that ranks purchase experiences, three out of four of Stellantis’ main brands — Chrysler, Dodge and Ram — were under the industry average.
An Amazon of used and new vehicles?
Although Stellantis said it is treating it like other dealers, Carvana is not a traditional auto retailer like other large publicly traded dealers such as Lithia or AutoNation. It almost exclusively operates online, with a vast network of physical facilities supporting it.
Carvana has built a nationwide logistics and processing company for vehicles similar to Amazon and its back-end operations for processing and shipping consumer goods.
“They have a pre-built out infrastructure, digitally, physically, logistically, that probably gives them an advantage over those big, multibranded public companies,” said Larry Dominique, a longtime automotive executive turned industry consultant.
The business concept of Carvana is simple: buy and sell used cars. But the process behind it has proven to be complicated, labor-intensive and expensive.
Michael Wayland / CNBC
Carvana puts each vehicle it intends to sell through a lengthy inspection, repair and sale preparation process. It ranges from fixing scratches, dents and other imperfections to working on engine and powertrain components. There are also significant logistical costs and processes for delivering vehicles to consumers’ homes.
The other new vehicle Stellantis franchises for Carvana are in Sacramento and San Diego, California; Dallas; Atlanta; Cleveland; and Boston. The new dealerships are in addition to more than 100 other Carvana locations, mainly consisting of vending machines and processing centers.
While large dealers have stores across the country that they can utilize for used and new vehicle inventories, they have traditionally sold regionally to avoid additional shipping costs as well as sales and registration complexities due to selling across state lines.
“Carvana is showing the franchise dealer community how the power of digital can be applied to make a future direction retail model,” Dominique said. “There’s nothing stopping any dealer in the United States from doing that today.”
The company’s vending machine locations do not have parts and service departments, like traditional franchised dealers have, which represent significant profits and customer touch points. That’s one of the main questions surrounding Carvana’s plans: Will it expand into parts and services or leave that for current dealers?
“If they’re going to just be an outlet for new cars, then does that change the dynamic of the dealership model? Who’s going to be responsible for taking care of the customer after the sale?” Hogan said.
Murphy said he believes Carvana may be able to use locations of Adesa, an auction company it purchased in 2022, in addition to the new dealer franchises to potentially service its vehicles.
Carvana has reported it has the capacity to recondition approximately 1.5 million vehicles per year. That compares with its sales of less than 600,000 vehicles last year.
“They do have tremendous capacity to recondition, potentially significantly ramp up their service capability in a way that is not present in other large consolidators,” Murphy said. “I think that problem potentially gets cured.”

Senior officials at the Justice Department moved to close out the antitrust investigation into Paramount’s $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery before the team of lawyers investigating the matter could issue a recommendation, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The career lawyers in the DOJ’s Antitrust Division had been “leaning” toward advising that the department should file a lawsuit seeking to block the merger — and were surprised when DOJ leadership gave the deal the green light, per the Journal article.
“The American people need to know if this merger was approved as a political favor. This reeks of corruption,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who has been a strong critic of the Paramount-WBD deal, wrote in a post on Bluesky, citing the WSJ story.
In March, the acting head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, Omeed Assefi, said the Paramount-WBD deal would “absolutely not” be on a fast-track for approval due to political reasons, in the context of the Ellison family’s friendly ties to Trump.
The Journal story, citing anonymous sources, said DOJ attorneys who had spent months investigating Paramount-WBD were inclined to recommend a lawsuit challenging it on the grounds that the combination of the two movie studios would be “anticompetitive and violate antitrust law.” The paper reported that the antitrust staffers who investigated the proposed merger “didn’t participate in writing” the Justice Department statement clearing the deal. On Friday, the DOJ issued a statement saying in part, “The [Antitrust] Division has completed its analysis of the proposed merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. and determined based on the evidence received in its investigation that the transaction is not likely to result in harm to competition or American consumers.”
Asked for comment on the Journal report, a DOJ spokesperson said: “The Antitrust Division conducted a thorough investigation to assess whether the proposed transaction would harm competition. The investigatory record indicated that the transaction will increase competition across the media and entertainment ecosystem, benefiting American consumers and workers.”
The DOJ rep also pointed to a post on X by Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr., the DOJ’s third highest-ranking official, directed at Journal reporter Sadie Gurman. Woodward wrote, “a team of career lawyers never reached out to anyone in their leadership chain of command to express this, but instead reached out to you? Please let your anonymous sources know that my door is always open.”
The DOJ’s Antitrust Division announced June 12 that it was closing the Paramount-WBD probe, without imposing any requirements for divestitures or other concessions on the part of David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance.
“[T]he film and television industry is highly dynamic, and the proposed transaction is not likely to harm competition or American consumers,” the DOJ’s Antitrust Division said.
In a statement Friday, Paramount Skydance said in part, “We are grateful for the Department of Justice’s thorough review of this transaction, as well as the work of the other agencies that have completed their reviews and provided clearance to date.” Notably, Ellison last fall recruited Makan Delrahim, who had headed the DOJ’s Antitrust Division during Trump’s first term, as Paramount’s chief legal officer.
Paramount still faces other potential roadblocks to closing the WBD deal, which the companies have said they expect to happen by September 2026. Among those: State attorneys general including California’s Rob Bonta have indicated they will potentially move forward with litigation seeking to block the Paramount-WBD merger on antitrust grounds. California will be joined by New York and other states in a lawsuit seeking to block Paramount-WBD to be filed “in the coming weeks,” per a Reuters report earlier this month.
Meanwhile, the European Commission is investigating the deal under the EU’s Foreign Subsidies Regulation, looking at the approximately $24 billion being fronted for the takeover by the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. The EU set a provisional July 14 deadline for vetting the deal under the law, according to a notice posted on the regulatory agency’s site. That’s in addition to its investigation of potential anticompetitive issues under standard merger rules with a July 7 deadline. And on June 9, the U.K.’s competition regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority, said it initiated an investigation into the proposed Paramount-WBD deal.
While David Ellison isn’t an all-out Trump booster, he and his father — tech billionaire Larry Ellison — are friendly with Trump. In April, David Ellison and Paramount hosted a soiree in D.C. “honoring” Trump, with the event also ostensibly meant to celebrate the First Amendment.
The pending Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery megamerger would bring bring together Paramount assets including CBS, CBS News, Paramount Pictures and Paramount+ with WBD’s HBO and HBO Max, Warner Bros. Pictures, CNN, TNT, TBS, HGTV and more.
Paramount execs have said they anticipate achieving more than $6 billion in cost savings through the merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, indicating they would initiate sizable layoffs at the combined company.

A version of this article first appeared in the CNBC Property Play newsletter with Diana Olick. Property Play covers new and evolving opportunities for the real estate investor, from individuals to venture capitalists, private equity funds, family offices, institutional investors and large public companies. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox. A home is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. That is probably the only dependable truth when it comes to putting a price tag on a property. Enter artificial intelligence. As with everything on the planet, AI is disrupting real estate. In March, celebrity real estate CEO Ryan Serhant, of his namesake company, posted a video on Instagram titled, “ChatGPT just blew up my $50M deal.” In the post, he explained how he had brokered a deal on the property, but, “at the last minute the seller uses ChatGPT, asks it, ‘Should I sell at this price?’ And maybe because of how he asked, whatnot, ChatGPT basically told him no, you should not sell at that price, it’s worth more.” Then, he said, the buyer did the same thing, asking the AI tool from OpenAI if he was overpaying, and ChatGPT told him that, yes, he was paying too much. “It gave him comparables that showed why, without context and without actually understanding the property,” Serhant said. Serhant’s post has more than 3 million views. He was able to salvage the deal, he said in a subsequent post, by explaining to both the buyer and seller the following about AI: “It doesn’t know the future, it can’t predict the future. It doesn’t know intentions, doesn’t know emotions, doesn’t know what buyers are circling, doesn’t know off-market comparables, doesn’t understand, fully, replacement costs, and doesn’t actually optimize for the deal,” he said. “AI can model a market. It can’t model a deal.” Serhant has said he does believe AI is a critical tool for real estate agents and even launched his own AI-powered workflow automation platform and operating system, called S.MPLE, which he talked about recently on the Property Play podcast. And he’s not alone. For most real estate professionals, the data aggregation capabilities of AI can certainly enhance their expertise, according to Kamini Lane, CEO of Coldwell Banker Realty. “Market analysis, comparative analysis, those are key tools in a real estate agent’s toolbox. But the important thing is that those are starting points for an agent to then apply their judgment, their expertise, their nuanced understanding of the real estate market, to either validate or enhance the recommendation that any data tool would provide,” she said. Lane said her agents are seeing more and more clients — both buyers and sellers — look to sources like Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s ChatGPT to price their homes or calculate offers. Like Serhant, she warned of how these generalized large language models miss the nuances of a home, a neighborhood and a client. “One of the most important things that agents can see, that ChatGPT, or any other AI tool is not going to know, is [what’s] up and coming. So neighborhoods that are up and coming, design features that are up and coming,” she said. “Anecdotal data that agents are aggregating through their conversations, that is something that no AI tool is ever going to be able to aggregate in the same way that a real estate professional can.” Zillow, one could argue, was the original AI price model for residential real estate. It launched its so-called Zestimate feature back in 2006, alongside the launch of its website. It recently launched “AI mode,” designed to guide homebuyers through their search by learning their specific needs. It then enables homebuyers to have a more personalized conversation with the Zestimate. “AI guidance for consumers needs to be connected to real context, real data, real ability to take action,” said Nicholas Stevens, vice president of product and AI at Zillow. “Then that AI guidance needs to be deeply connected to what a real estate agent is attempting to do. That’s the difference between what we’re doing at Zillow versus like a third-party, generic experience.” Agents have to upload in-depth floor plans and 3D visual captures of the entire home and surrounding lot with every possible piece of information. Then, in AI mode, Zillow gives advice to the buyer on what might be a good offer. “It actually sees a remodeled kitchen. It actually sees upgrades in the house, and that’s useful, both for buyers but also homeowners thinking about selling or remodeling as well,” said Stevens. Zillow’s AI feature is now primarily for buyers, but Stevens said the company will roll out a tool for sellers as well. It still raises accuracy questions, however, about the AI itself as it tries to understand its human users. Coldwell Banker’s Lane said she worries that for both buyers and sellers, AI will not be able to pick up on what they might need compared with what they say they want. It might also not be inclined to offer the often hard-to-hear advice that a human agent has to. “Artificial intelligence is trained to be sycophantic, it’s trained to give you the answers that you want, so that you will continue to engage, and so AI is more likely to give you the price that you want versus the price at which a home is going to sell for,” said Lane.