In recent years, there has been significant effort to align large language models with human preferences. This work focuses on developing a chatbot specialized in the real estate domain, with an emphasis on incorporating compliant behavior to ensure it can be used without perpetuating discriminatory practices like steering and redlining, which have historically plagued the real estate industry in the United States. Building on prior work, we present a method for generating a synthetic general instruction-following dataset, along with safety data. Through extensive evaluations and benchmarks, we fine-tuned a llama-3-8B-instruct model and demonstrated that we can enhance it's performance significantly to match huge closed-source models like GPT-4o while making it safer and more compliant. We open-source the model, data and code to support further development and research in the community.

This August, the Department of Housing and Urban Development put forth a proposed ruling that could potentially turn back the clock on the Fair Housing Act (FHA). This ruling states that landlords, lenders, and property sellers who use third-party machine learning algorithms to decide who gets approved for a loan or who can purchase or rent a property would not be held responsible for any discrimination resulting from these algorithms. The Fair Housing Act (FHA) is a part of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. This stated that people should not be discriminated against for the purchase of a home, rental of a property or qualification of a lease based on race, national origin or religion. In 1974, this was expanded to include gender, and in 1988, disability.

How artificial intelligence is changing the workplace is starting to get the attention of congressional lawmakers at a time when some employment attorneys are sounding alarms about the need for legislation. The House Education and Labor Committee plans to hold hearings on machine learning's impact on workers and their jobs after Congress returns from recess in September. However, while a hearing is usually a precursor to legislation, employers using AI-based tools and tech companies developing those programs probably don't need to worry about new bills anytime soon. The focus on Capitol Hill remains on trying to understand what the effect of artificial intelligence on workers could be. The rise of algorithms and machine learning technology is already changing the way people work.

The Fair Housing Act ("FHA"), enacted more than fifty years ago, prohibits discriminatory practices in housing. The FHA makes it illegal to "make unavailable or deny . . . In many jurisdictions, it is also illegal to discriminate on the basis of income (e.g. But recent technological advancements have raised new questions about the statute's reach--both in terms of which entities may be liable for violating the FHA and what new technologies may run afoul of the statute's prohibitions. For example, companies that use, facilitate, or support digital advertising need to be particularly cognizant of the FHA's purview.