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MortgagePoint » Your Trusted Source for Mortgage Banking and Servicing News 38 December 2023 F E A T U R E A s we stand on the precipice of 2024, the technological land- scape is rapidly evolving, with some trends promising trans- formative effects on the mortgage industry. Here's a deep dive into the pioneering advancements that are poised to shape our digital future in 2024 and beyond. Generative AI for the Mortgage Industry F oundation models are massive neural networks trained on petabytes of unla- beled data through unsupervised learning methods. In other words, take a deep learning model, feed it a library of data, and let it create datasets of what it believes to be related/similar data. When questioned, it then samples these datasets to craft a response that maintains the core integrity of the dataset. Your basic generative model with encoders (dataset creators) and decoders (dataset samplers) have been around for years and are used extensively in financial modeling, statistics, etc. What took this to the next level is Google Labs' Transformers—a mechanism to parallel process text so a general model could be created and then fine-tuned for a specific task. Earlier language interpreters, like Re- curring Neural Networks, processed one word at a time. Transformers, on the other hand, not only process entire sentences but have the capability to understand grammatical rules, positional context, and even relationship context, thereby far expanding the scope of data it can under- stand without human intervention. This, of course, begs the question: what trust can we put in AI-generated output? With large foundational models, this can still be a gray area. Earlier Chat- GPT models confidently spouted facts as fiction, but this will improve with time as technology scales. Prompt Engineering and Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback are human supervised learning methods that are gaining in popularity to enhance AI's black box learning styles. These large foundation models can cost a fortune to train—for example, the training for Chat GPT 4 cost an estimated $100 million. But there is an advent of smaller, nimble models that cost signifi- cantly less that can be focused on a specific knowledge base. Think protein identi- fication for cancer research, smart grid configuration and maintenance, or supply chain management. For the mortgage industry, this opens up a slew of use cases—portfolio/pool analyses for the secondary market, default and foreclosure support to gain insights into profitability, and fraud prevention in Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering spectrums. It could even mean enhancements of existing products, for example, adding even more insight to an already robust Ask Poli. In addition to links to Fannie's guides, perhaps we'll see a summarized version that reads out as Steve Irwin. ("Crikey! That LTV seems awfully high for that credit score. You may want to approach carefully so as not to startle the compli- ance guidelines.") For today, it's using AI-enhanced Google for more insightful searches or ChatGPT to fix code (maybe an Excel mac- ro?). Baby steps to a (hopefully) well-regu- lated, AI-powered future. Custom Data Endpoints M ore and more institutions are getting into the practice of exposing specific data points through APIs. In the past, in- formation was shared as paper only, which was clunky, slow, and insecure. With APIs becoming more prevalent, institutions can THE EVOLVING DIGITAL FRONTIER Mortgage tech advancements in 2024 will be transformative. Here's how. B y A N E E Z A H A L E E M For nearly two decades, A N E E Z A H A L E E M , VP of Technology at Planet Home Lending, has leveraged technology to bring business visions to life in the mortgage banking industry. An innovator and entrepreneur, she manages and implements large-scale, complex technical systems for Planet. Before joining Planet, she managed new ventures for Cognizant across clients in the mortgage industry. Having lived and worked in multiple countries, Haleem brings a cross-cultural, cross-functional leadership focus to all her efforts. Her blogs have appeared in MBA Newslink and BAI Insights, where she has written about weaving inclusion and diversity into the fabric of our industry. In 2020, she was named to Progress in Lending's Most Powerful Women in FinTech list.