Join host Will Jarvis as he walks through practical, hands-on ways assessors can use free AI tools to improve their cost approach valuations. In this solo episode, Will demonstrates how tools like Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and ValPal can be used to extract market depreciation from sales data, build effective age rubrics, standardize condition ratings, generate taxpayer-friendly explanations, and run ratio study checks — all with paste-ready prompts attendees can take back to their offices immediately.

• 00:00 - Introduction and overview of the session on using free AI tools for the cost approach
• 02:22 - Why the cost approach breaks down: depreciation tables, effective ages, and condition ratings
• 04:44 - How time constraints — not lack of knowledge — keep these inputs from being maintained
• 07:00 - The free AI toolkit in 2026: Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and ValPal compared
• 10:15 - Ground rules for using AI safely: stripping identifiers, verifying outputs, and checking IT policy
• 13:20 - The prompt pattern every example follows: role, data, task, and proof
• 16:30 - Extracting market depreciation from your own sales in one prompt, with a live Florida county example
• 20:00 - Effective age: replacing gut feel with a written rubric and using AI vision on field photos
• 23:30 - Condition ratings: running outlier scans and drafting a standardized field guide with AI
• 26:30 - Explainability: generating plain-English cost approach explanations for property owners
• 28:00 - Closing the loop: running ratio study checks with IAAO formulas via AI
• 30:00 - The 30-minute weekly routine, common failure modes to avoid, and concrete next steps