New artificial intelligence tools such as Chat GPT could provide free up mortgage brokers so they can spend more time on their customers, says one Sydney broker.
But Black and White Finance managing director Peter Vassilis (picture above left) also says brokers should exercise caution when using the tools for content creation.
ChatGPT from OpenAI and other generative AI tools such as Microsoft’s Copilot and Google’s Bard have all hit the market in 2023. They allow users to generate original content or edit text based on prompts, with related tools like DALL-E allowing users to generate unique images.
The new technology raises questions about their use in schools and for higher education, as well as tech developers and creative professionals. There’s plenty of interest in AI’s potential, and what changes might be in store for businesses, industries and the workforce in the future.
Vassilis said ChatGPT, which just released a new version called ChatGPT-4, could help brokers with tasks such as content creation for websites or social media posts, and generating generic responses for new-to-industry customers, explaining offsets, LMI or redraws.
“Typing in what you think is a well-written response or content piece, and pasting it into ChatGPT and asking the software to make this text read in a much simpler form, can also help,” he said.
However Vassilis warned other brokers that there were potential risks in using tools like ChatGPT and that “it’s probably best to proceed with caution when using the platform”.
“There is still a lot of incorrect or dated information that is online, which ChatGPT is data scraping to provide its appropriate response,” Vassilis said. “It’s also known ChatGPT’s written text or content is likely to lack empathy or the human element so it might be a good idea to blend its response with your own.”
Google has said it will reward high quality content however it is produced, including through AI. But given that ChatGPT produced potentially lower quality content than humans, Vassilis said it could lower your organic Google ranking, which would be detrimental to businesses trying to rank online.
Rehan Mark D’Almeida (pictured above right), the general manager of peak fintech body FinTech Australia, said users were still at a stage where they could not completely rely on the generative AI models that had been released, including ChatGPT, due to the flaws and errors generated in responses and training specific models that were biased.
However he said generative AI tools could be useful for supporting processes and checkpoints within the current finance and lending chain. D ‘Almeida said examples included know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) requirements, as well as credit checks.
Allowing brokers more time for customer service
Vassilis said while it was likely to be business as usual for now for brokers, and that ChatGPT was unlikely to have more of an impact in its current state, he said that the industry might be able to “win a bit more time back” through using the tools – a win for brokers.
“Given the time it takes to create detailed responses to the many client questions we receive or the time it takes to create content, it may free brokers and their teams up to be more empathetic,” he said.
“Brokers and their teams may have a bit more time to be more in tune with the emotions our clients are feeling in these current economic times, to help make the experience even better when providing what’s in a borrower’s best interests.”
D’Almeida said that AI more generally had the potential to play a bigger role in an open banking era, with organisations gaining access to consumer data beyond pure credit checks, including transaction data, insurance, superannuation, telecommunication and utilities.
“There is the potential to utilise the power of AI to make better decisions and to tailor products and services,” he said. “We are really reaching that stage where we can tailor products and services for a customer’s individual needs and that is the near-term opportunity here.”
“As we watch the industry evolve through the likes of open banking, and AI expands into other industries, there are multiple opportunities for companies to innovate and help lending and mortgage brokers better service their customers.”
D’Almeida said there was a layer of in-person relationship – particularly on display in the mortgage broking profession – which AI could not solve for now, and that the human connection was still an important element in building those strong customer relationships.
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