REA Group Launches Conversational Search Beta

REA Group launched a conversational search beta last month and has rolled natural language search to 50% of realestate.com.au visitors, with the new conversational feature available to 10% of users. CEO Cameron McIntyre said the AI agent aims to increase buyer intent and accelerate product development, while CFO Janelle Hopkins noted AI costs pushed Australian operating expenses up 9% versus revenue growth of 8%.