> I’m standing outside an Oakland apartment I’m trying to tour, punching the same code into the keypad over and over again. The door won’t budge. My fiancé and I repeatedly call the number provided for “immediate help,” but for 10 minutes, we get nothing but the flat, looping responses of an automated voice.

> Despite the fact that this Jack London Square complex has over 280 units, there is no on-site leasing office and no human agent to answer our questions — or, more importantly, to actually let us in. Instead, the entire process has been outsourced to artificial intelligence. We were trapped in a digital loop until, finally, a human had to intervene and remotely unlock the door for us.

> In my recent East Bay apartment hunt, I encountered AI everywhere I looked, from chipper leasing agents who turned out to be bots to Craigslist scams. While I was surprised to find the landscape so changed from the last time I moved, I quickly learned my experience was not unique.

Having managed 32 units I see why apartment managers want to outsource showings to AI agents if they can. It was easily the biggest time-sink.