Condo Media - December 2024 - 21

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17
NOON TO 1:00 P.M.
R THE FUTURE
USING AI IN COMMUNITIES
BY KATHERINE BRADY, ESQ.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) is not
quite ready to take over everything
just yet, but there is no looking away.
Community associations and the businesses
that support them must plan for
how AI can be used to assist with operational
needs and how it could be weaponized
to disrupt association business.
In some ways, AI builds on automated
technologies that already assist our
day-to-day lives and are built into our
communication systems and existing
smart technology resources we use. For
what comes next, we must plan on how
and when to integrate AI in a way that is
efficient, reliable, and minimizes risks.
There are many facets to association
management and operation, providing
fiscal services, vendor services, meeting
support, clerical support, building
management, and people management.
AI is better suited to assist with some of
these functions than others. At this stage,
AI tools are better at working with data
or providing clerical and meeting support
than with responding to personal resident
complaints and/or resident conflict.
Understanding these constraints, we can
make choices about how best to deploy
and delegate to AI.
WHEN AND HOW SHOULD I USE IT?
With any AI tool, start with the question,
" Is this tool reliable and suitable for the
function it purports to assist? " AI has a
good track record with taking existing
data and summarizing, comparing, and
tracking it. AI tools of particular value
may be those that can intake, track, and
record complaints, track and compare
budgets, or track preventative or routine
maintenance tasks, but community association
professionals must understand
that these systems may not have the
" knowledge " to analyze and assess how
to respond to data on an individual level
or if there are more complex responses
needed. AI is better suited to automatic
or repetitive tasks and optimization of
discrete data sets. As AI develops to be
able to customize responses, community
association professionals must then
weigh what type of personal community
member data it can and/or should be
provided, and whether members should
have the right or opportunity to opt into
providing that information.
In this vein, AI can assist with general
community notices and reminders.
However, to the extent that a form of
notice must meet content requirements
to accord with an association's governing
documents and the governing state law,
you must ensure that the AI tool has
the requisite level of sophistication and
" knowledge, " and many do not. Consider
also that AI tools may promote that they
can help with developing association
policies and document amendments,
but AI does not appear to have sufficient
sophistication to appreciate the nuances
involved with the interplay of governing
laws (between federal, state, and local)
and interpretation within the documents
themselves. Associations must then
consider whether the use of AI could have
legal implications.
HOW DOES THIS
PARTICULAR AI TOOL WORK?
One promising AI tool is the ability to
take notes and summarize meetings. This
could be a great tool for managers and associations
to keep track of meetings, but
it is important to understand how the tool
works to understand potential liability
issues. Does it record voices such that a
consent to record is required to comply
with state laws where the state requires
two-party consent (like Massachusetts)?
How is the information that it takes
recorded and stored? What information
might this tool receive that constitutes
private, personal, or sensitive information,
and what safeguards are in place to
prevent the unlawful retention, transmission,
or use of that information? Will it
constitute a record that must be produced
as a record of the association and/or in
litigation? What if it does not record the
conversation, it only transcribes it, or
just creates a summary/minutes? There
are any number of permutations on how
a particular AI tool might work, and associations
must plan to ask how the tool
gathers information and uses information
so that it can be lawfully deployed and
minimize security risks/breaches.
December 2024 CONDOMEDIA 21
Condo Media - December 2024

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