Everyone "uses AI" now — specificity is the new edge

The marketing story this week isn't the rate — it's the AI gap. HousingWire reports brokerages claim 97% of agents now "use AI," but the data shows the gains are concentrated in a small set of power users; most are using it for basic marketing and leaving the real leverage on the table. Inman ran a companion piece on getting your business surfaced by AI search assistants. The takeaway for an LO is the same: the bar to stand out is no longer "use AI" — everyone checks that box now — it's using it to produce something specific and trustworthy enough that both borrowers and AI assistants point to you. Generic, AI-flavored rate posts are now the noise, not the signal.

On rates, be honest with your audience this week. The 30-year is at 6.57%, up about 16 bps over the past month and sitting just above its 90-day average — there's no "rates are dropping" hook to run, and Wednesday's Fed meeting is a genuine unknown. The segment worth your energy is the borrower who's been waiting for a number the market simply isn't offering: the 30-year has held a tight 6.49%–6.70% band all month. The message that lands is reframing "waiting for rates" into "the rate has been steady for a month — let's run your actual numbers and stop guessing."

So build one genuinely useful, specific asset this week instead of three generic ones. HousingWire's "tribal knowledge" piece makes the same point about LO expertise — depth beats volume. Concretely: record a short, current clip that names today's actual rate, says the Fed meets Wednesday and what that does and doesn't mean for a borrower's payment, and ends with a single ask. That's the kind of specific, dated content an AI assistant can cite and a borrower actually finishes watching — the opposite of an evergreen "rates are great, call me" graphic.