Jason Pantana: Ai Isn’t The Shiny Object For Agents— It’s The System

When ChatGPT launched, Tom Ferry coach Jason Pantana saw agents react to artificial intelligence (AI) the same way they once reacted to social media — with curiosity, fear and shiny-object syndrome.

Some agents proudly announced they’d “used ChatGPT,” while others were quietly convinced they were already behind. Pantana, the co-founder and CEO of AI Marketing Academy (AiM), sees a clear dividing line emerging.

In an exclusive interview with HousingWire, Pantana outlined AI adoption in real estate and how agents can have success with AI. 

“It has a lot to do with awareness,” he says. “Some agents are like, ‘Oh yeah, I know what ChatGPT is. It came out a couple years ago. I use it,’ versus, ‘I’m paying attention to the fact that Google just released Gemini 3. It’s got massive enhancements.’”

That difference between dabbling and full adoption is quickly becoming one of the biggest competitive gaps in real estate.

Start with awareness, not tools

Pantana says the biggest difference between agents who succeed with AI and those who don’t is immersion.

“Nobody alive today has experienced a more innovative breakthrough of technology,” he says, citing Seth Godin’s description of AI as “the biggest change since electricity.”

Agents who commit 15 to 20 minutes a day to learning what’s new, what’s possible and what’s coming tend to unlock practical use cases organically.

“If you’re just immersing yourself in ‘I want to know what’s happening’ and letting that align with your goals, you’ll start to put AI to work in a powerful way,” Pantana says.

That also means understanding what AI is not. Pantana warned that AI can hallucinate — inventing information in an effort to be helpful — particularly when it lacks data.

“It’s designed to be helpful,” he said. “You have to put guardrails on it, because people just blindly believe whatever it says.”

Shift from shiny objects to outcomes

Pantana sees a familiar trap: agents chasing AI tools the same way they chase viral posts.

“I think AI [adoption in real estate] can be thought of like that too,” he says. “This new tool does this one little thing and you get yourself on this pathway of looking for the next fix.”

The mindset shift, he says, is about starting with the end in mind.

“What is the goal I have for my business, and what are the tools I’ve deemed to be support acts to help me achieve that goal?” Pantana says. “AI has to be put into the box of a tool or a set of tools utilized to bring about specific outcomes.”

Fear-based adoption is a dangerous motivator. “It doesn’t help you build,” he says. “It’s reactive in nature.”

While AI saves real time in content creation, Pantana is careful not to frame AI as a shortcut that replaces effort or authenticity. Instead, he focuses on friction. One example is video creation.

“A lot of agents’ camera rolls have like 19 attempts of the same selfie-style video,” he says. AI tools that provide scripts, teleprompters and eye-contact correction can streamline that process. “You can reduce the number of takes to get the video where you want it.”

Email design is another activity that takes up precious time. Agents who struggle with designing and formatting an email often spend hours wrestling with templates. AI tools can generate HTML emails aligned with brand fonts, colors and mobile optimization in minutes.

Pantana also uses AI as a collaborator, not a replacement, for writing. “It is a research partner — a collaborator to help me wordsmith when I get stuck,” he says.

Authenticity requires instruction

Agents often complain that AI “sounds like AI.” Pantana says that’s almost always a prompting problem. “If you don’t give it directions, it’s going to go default and it’s going to sound like AI,” he says.

He encourages the use of specificity, context and style guidance, including custom instructions and reusable workflows. “Life punishes the vague request and rewards the specific ask,” he says. “Weak prompts in, garbage out. Genius prompts in, genius out.”

AI search is the real lead generation shift

Pantana believes the biggest lead generation opportunity today isn’t ads or captions — it’s AI search. “‘Search’ is becoming ‘ask’,” he says. “It’s so much more convenient to ask AI and let it do the grueling search work for you.”

That has major implications for agents, particularly on the listing side. “Sellers are far more likely to search for an agent,” Pantana said. “They search for the agent whose job it is to get them to the buyer.”

AI can’t see reviews unless they’re visible on the web, meaning agents must intentionally include Google reviews on their own sites and make their bios discoverable.

Pantana is especially focused on “bottom-of-funnel” questions. These are the specific, decision-blocking questions buyers and sellers ask right before taking action.

“If you answer bottom-of-funnel questions, you have a 10x to 23x greater likelihood they’ll click your citation,” he says, citing research from online marketing guru Neil Patel.

AI doesn’t erase your edge — it multiplies it

High-performing agents often worry that AI adoption will commoditize their advantage. Pantana disagrees.

“AI is a force multiplier of you,” he says. “It helps you do more, faster, better, as long as it’s trained and harnessed properly.” But used poorly, it’s no different than hiring the wrong person.

The real risk, Pantana adds, isn’t replacement. It’s falling behind agents who use AI strategically. “They’ll leave you in the dust,” he says.

His advice to agents getting started is simple: Use an AI tool regularly and surround yourself with a learning community. Then, pick one area of marketing that’s either too time-consuming or previously out of reach. “Push yourself into a new camp you’ve avoided because of learning curves,” Pantana says.

Because AI isn’t the shiny object, he says. “It’s the system.”