"The robots are not taking over"
The mention of artificial intelligence (AI) often stirs apprehension, with many professionals suspecting that robots might soon replace them.
But can technology ever replace the nuanced judgment and expertise of a seasoned mortgage professional? Gregory Meola, head of business development and strategy at Acra Lending, believes not.
“The robots are not taking over,” Meola asserted. “I can assure everybody that they’re just making things more efficient. A perfect example is if you’re looking at document analysis.”
Traditionally, professionals would sift through extensive documents to extract and verify crucial data points. Meola said this process is not just time-consuming but also prone to human error.
“AI really is just highlighting the areas in which an underwriter or processor has to look,” he added. “So instead of going through a 40-50 page document, they’re able to go right to the area that they need to look at and see – ‘OK, this is what the borrower’s broker told me, and this is what the document says. Does it match?’ Check, and move on to the next step. So, it’s condensing down the amount of activity that needs to be done on a loan. It’s not taking over the loan process.”
Read more: Acra Lending’s 2023 strategy: AI and non-QM
In the end, “technology is only as good as the people behind it,” Meola said. “There still is definitely a need to make sure that we’re having the proper analysis done by human intervention but limiting the exposure to that so we don’t have things overlooked. And we could create secure guardrails through technology to make sure that we’re delivering a secure loan with the help of AI.”
You can watch Meola’s full interview for deeper insights about AI technology and non-QM lending.
