It always comes up near the end of the panel, usually around the coffee table. Someone leans in and asks, "Should we actually be worried about AI?" The question is honest. And the answer is more useful than most of the hot takes pretending to have it solved.

What AI Is Already Doing, and What It Isn't

AI has moved past the experiment phase in brokerages across the US and Canada. According to the National Association of Realtors' 2025 Technology Survey, 68% of agents now use AI tools in some form, up sharply from 44% the year before. Most of that growth has come from small, practical uses: drafting listing descriptions, summarising long email threads, generating social posts, and keeping follow-ups from slipping.

That is the part of the job AI handles well. What it doesn't handle is the part where an agent sits at a kitchen table and reads the room before suggesting a number. Software can't tell when a seller is grieving a divorce rather than a price. It can't call a buyer and deliver the hard thing gently.

Agents who treat AI as a second pair of hands see value quickly. Those who expect it to run deals or replace years of relationships walk away unimpressed. The line between those two outcomes has little to do with the tool, and everything to do with how it is used.

The North American Context and the Future of Real Estate Canada and the US Share

The future of real estate Canada and the US are heading into is being shaped by two forces at once: new technology and new rules. In the US, the post-NAR settlement world has reset how buyer-side compensation is discussed and pushed agents to articulate their value in plainer terms. Canadian agents face their own shifts, including tighter CREA rules on representation disclosure and provincial attention on AI-generated advertising.

Both markets are relationship-driven in a way that protects the agent's role. Home ownership rates, commission structures, mortgage rules, and tax treatment differ meaningfully across the border. Software still cannot explain a Quebec notary system to a first-time buyer from Ontario, or walk a Texas seller through a bidding-war counter at 9pm on a Tuesday.

What technology does change is how much work a single agent can hold. This is where AI adoption Canadian realtors are reporting matters most. Agents using it well are not closing dramatically differently; they are staying in touch with more people, more often, without letting the small things fall through the cracks.

The Agents Paying Attention Right Now

The agents worth watching are not the ones chasing every new tool. They are the ones quietly sorting through which parts of their week no longer need their full attention. Follow-ups, scheduling, inbox triage, the 4:47pm voicemail from a buyer who only has a minute — this is where AI assistants like Worthington fit into the day.

A good AI tool in real estate should feel boring, in the best sense. It should shorten the gap between what a client asks and when they hear back. Ideally, it reminds an agent about the small commitments that make them trustworthy, and it never gets mistaken for the agent themselves.

Chicago Agent Magazine recently put it well: AI will not replace real estate agents, but it will divide them. Agents who fold it into their weekly routine will look more capable each year. Those who ignore it will look slower, and slower is expensive in this business.

Questions Agents Ask About AI Real Estate Agents North America

No. Surveys from NAR, Delta Media, and Inman all point in the same direction: adoption is accelerating, but AI is being used to reduce administrative load rather than replace client relationships. The agents most at risk are not those competing with AI, but those competing with other agents who already use it well.
Slower than the US, but catching up. Statistics Canada data shows the share of real estate and leasing firms planning to adopt AI nearly doubled between mid-2024 and mid-2025. Canadian agents tend to adopt proven tools rather than early ones, so the curve is steeper now that the category has matured.
Client follow-ups, calendar scheduling, drafting emails, summarising long threads, writing first-draft listing copy, and preparing for appointments. Anything repetitive and text-heavy is a reasonable starting point. Pricing decisions, negotiation, and client advice should stay with the agent.
Most do not, provided it is used to improve responsiveness rather than replace contact. What clients dislike is generic, obviously automated communication. A quick, human-sounding message drafted with help beats a slow, perfect one that arrives two days late.
Falling behind on response times. Buyers and sellers increasingly expect replies within minutes, not hours. Agents still doing everything manually are working longer weeks for the same outcome, and the competition is not a robot — it is another agent using AI real estate agents North America searches to find the same tools.

Back to the question at the panel. The agents asking "should I be worried?" are asking the wrong one. A better question is how to make AI quietly useful without letting it get in the way of the work only a person can do, and Worthington was built for exactly that kind of agent. If that sounds worth a look, worthington.ai is a sensible place to start.