Zillow CEO bullish about AI’s potential, opportunities for agents 

ORLANDO — Jeremy Wacksman has a lot on his mind these days. Since he moved into the CEO role at Zillow in 2024, his company has been embroiled in the battle over private listings and faced continuing litigation — all while the housing market has remained persistently sluggish.

But amid those challenges, Zillow has zeroed in on a shift that is both disruptive and promising: the industry's embrace of artificial intelligence-driven technology.

Harnessing AI internally, deploying it externally: Inside Zillow, productivity has increased as employees have been retrained to incorporate AI into their jobs, Wacksman noted — early returns that match what he was hoping to see.

The improvements so far "are small, but they're compounding," Wacksman told real estate executives at the 2026 T3 Sixty Leadership Summit on April 23 — and they're leading to an increase in tools used to boost agent efficiency by automating note-taking, instantly generating floor plans and streamlining marketing.

For Wacksman, those results are encouraging as the company continues to position itself as a technology partner for the industry. "AI is absolutely the biggest technology shift any of us will ever see," he said. "There is a technology here to serve humans, and that is what AI is going to do."

Human support still valued: Though consumers now have more access to data than ever before, Wacksman said early research suggests that real estate professionals are becoming increasingly valuable to homebuyers and sellers. "The more noise, the more data that's out there, the more they want someone to help them."

As AI and other technologies become more essential to the business of real estate, that's also prompting smaller, less-resourced firms to join up with larger brokerages, adding to the wave of consolidation — a trend Wacksman expects to continue as the impact of AI grows — but it's also leading to more opportunities for agents.

"The trust component goes up," Wacksman said. "Buyers want more information and sellers want a professional who knows their market and knows their street and their home — and can maximize the price."

What about private listings? Zillow may be focused on technology, but the pre-marketing and exclusive listings debate can't be ignored. Wacksman — who has been vocal in his support of an open, accessible marketplace — said he aligns with Gary Keller's position that local MLSs "should make the rules" around private listings.

"What's great about our country is the local MLS is a cooperative, and everyone's cooperating. That provides transparency to all participants," Wacksman said.

"When rulemaking stops or people start bending the rules, you will get regulators involved, and you will get state officials involved," he added. "It's not surprising that some states have started to pass bills to ensure consumer support and consumer empowerment."