The housing market is one of the most regulated sectors in the U.S. economy. Various laws, regulations, guidelines, agency memos, and court opinions touch everything from zoning to disaster relief. These regulations span jurisdictions (e.g., federal, county, state, tribal) and impact a diverse set of stakeholders (e.g., government agencies, property developers, households).
From all this complexity has emerged a maze of sometimes conflicting, constantly evolving documentation that underpins the regulation of the housing market. Unsurprisingly, navigating these regulations can be a vexing exercise for many, including the government employees responsible for managing the upkeep of said policies, rules, and regulations.
At Element14, we believe that the emergence and science of Large Language Models – when deployed correctly - may provide a remedy to these types of issues. Our latest prototype, the Housing Regulation Explorer, explores the application of this technology tailored specifically to the housing sector.
The Promise and Peril of Large Language Models
Large Language Models, or LLMs, are advanced computational models that mimic neural networks designed to understand language and generate human-like text. With the launch of chatGPT and the frenzy around what’s otherwise known as Generative AI, much hope has been placed on their potential application in the legal and regulatory sector.
But unlocking their potential requires overcoming distrust and frustration that has emerged in the legal AI sector:
- Data quality and integrity. Regulation-related documentation is scattered and ever-evolving.
- Model design and architecture. LLM design architecture is prone to hallucinations (providing errors or fabricated details).
- User interface and user experience. Distance between what users know and what they need to know to ask effective questions.
The Housing Regulation Explorer
We developed the Housing Regulation Explorer prototype to address the pandemic issues related to the application of LLMs in the legal sector and build a solution for the regulatory chaos surrounding the housing market.
The Housing Regulation Explorer prototype applies a combination of LLM and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) models to an initial target data set of seven individual regulations governing Section 8 Housing. The interactive chat system allows users to query and interact with these policies.
https://regulationexplorer.element14.ai
Across the housing sector, there are many example applications where enhanced regulation navigation could save time money and help reduce compliance risk. These include:
- Easily and immediately access regulations relevant to a specific topic of interest.
- Identifying and analyzing changes and conflicts between new and existing regulations.
- Rapidly and systematically analyzing an issue across different regulations.
- The ability to access and track changes to rules and regulations over time and across documents.
Investing in Scale
While the Housing Regulation Explorer prototype offers a productive starting point with Section 8 regulations, we are investing in building a scaled solution that covers the broad spectrum of housing across federal, state, and local regulations. In addition to expanding the content, we are continually innovating solutions that provide users output they can trust in a user experience tuned to how individuals navigate regulations.
We look forward to collaborating with partners and stakeholders who share our vision of harnessing technology to streamline and improve regulatory processes in the housing sector. Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to innovate and push the boundaries of what’s possible.
Check out the Housing Regulation Explorer today! Reach out to hello@element14.ai if you are interested in partnering as we build and expand an industry-standard regulation navigator.