A new artificial intelligence platform could handle maintenance requests for apartments and rental homes without the tenant ever knowing they’re talking to a machine.

Jack Automation Technologies was developed in Dallas by Izzy DiChiara and Fernando Higuera to revolutionize how landlords manage clogged sinks, broken air conditioners, and other issues that come up.

Jack works on Amazon Alexa, Facebook Messenger, Google Home, text message, and other platforms.

“We’ve replaced the old tenant portal so residents no longer have to log into their portal or download an app.”
Izzy DiChiara

“We’ve replaced the old tenant portal so residents no longer have to log into their portal or download an app,” DiChiara said. “They can simply use the latest messaging portal available. We provide a platform for the property management team to manage the messages that are coming in. They can see a live transcript of what’s happening with the tenant through Jack.”

The Jack team will participate in TechCrunch’s Disrupt Conference in September in San Francisco. They were one of five picked for the artificial intelligence category.

“It’s a great opportunity. We’ll showcase Jack at the startup alley, we’ll have a three-minute interview with an editor on the main stage and we’ll also have a shot at Battlefield, which is their pitch competition,” DiChirara said. “They’re going to choose one startup each day for the wild card for the competition.”

JACK IS NOT A CHATBOT

Whatever you do, don’t call Jack a chatbot.

Higuera said there’s no other conversational tool out there that can have realistic conversations with tenants while looking back at years of data from maintenance requests all over the country.

Jack’s ability to learn and apply the data it’s been given in rapid time makes it stand out.

“You can start the conversation through Alexa and then the response will either come through Facebook or text message to carry on the conversation.”
Fernando Higuera

“That’s what we have been putting our time and effort in creating that platform, that technology–so humans can communicate with the machine the same way we communicate with humans,” Higuera said. “Every single request that comes in, it pulls the data. When the user said this, this is what happened, this is what we dispatched. It’s making that connection. We’re creating our own algorithm to automate that process and inject X numbers of years and knowledge, instantly.”

Currently, artificial intelligence is about the level of a 7-year-old child.

AI also has to learn different dialects from different regions and countries.

Another important aspect of Jack is that it’s agnostic to the communication method.

“You can start the conversation through Alexa and then the response will either come through Facebook or text message to carry on the conversation,” Higuera said. “Then you can restart engagement through Alexa. Truly, it’s an omnichannel platform that you can start the conversation regardless of your preferred communication platform.”

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Jack is in the pilot stage with properties in Dallas, Miami, and Austin. They have about 800 individual units they’re working with.

Other future uses for Jack include student housing, nursing home facilities, and commercial offices—anywhere that has a large tenant base that might need to make requests for assistance.

“It could be anything,” DiChiara said. “If you’re a renter, we want you to use Jack.”

For now, a human does have to look at the transcript of the chat conversation. But that could change as AI advances and learns, Higuera said.

“You’re pretty much jamming a whole library into a brain,” Higuera said. “That’s truly the power of our platform.”