Where Does All This AI Go?

AI. Two letters that changed everything.

Author

Jim Cutillo
August 26, 2025

In mortgage and fintech, you can’t escape them. Boardrooms are buzzing, vendors are racing, and executives are asking the same question: How do we make AI work for us?

A few years ago, AI was abstract. Today, it’s a mandate. But here’s the problem: most of what’s sold as “AI” in mortgage today is hype—bolt-on features designed to make old systems look new.

The real story? AI hasn’t yet eliminated the $15B+ in manual labor dragging down our industry.

The Current Landscape

  • Prospects’ View: Rising costs, shrinking margins, compliance risks. Everyone wants AI, few know how to deploy it.

  • Vendors’ View: Adding AI features to legacy platforms just to stay relevant. But AI on top of old workflows ≠ transformation.

  • Market Reality: The same billions in manual work remain untouched.

Why Bolting AI On Doesn’t Work

Legacy mortgage systems were built to store data, not to reconcile it. Point solutions often solve for one stakeholder while ignoring the rest of the ecosystem.

The result? Flashy demos that look impressive—but rarely deliver operational ROI.

The Path Forward: Orchestrated AI

AI must move from “analyzing” workflows to executing inside the workflow.

That means digital workers that:
✅ Process documents across systems
✅ Reconcile and route data automatically
✅ Are deterministic, auditable, and compliance-first

In other words: AI that doesn’t just assist humans, it eliminates the manual labor bottlenecks entirely.

Where It All Goes

The trajectory is clear:

  • From features →

  • To agents →

  • To orchestrated AI utilities

Instead of every lender, servicer, and vendor reinventing the wheel, shared AI infrastructure will emerge- reducing cost and increasing trust across the industry.

Mortgage is the proving ground. From here, orchestrated AI will spread into title, custody, insurance, even healthcare.

The Road Ahead

The next wave of AI in mortgage won’t be measured by who has the best demo. It will be measured by:

  • Operational ROI: eliminating billions in manual labor costs

  • Trust: compliance-first, auditable systems that regulators and investors rely on

  • Scale: AI utilities that power the industry, not just a single vendor’s product

Mortgage is where this infrastructure is being built first. From here, it will ripple out across financial services and beyond.

The Bottom Line

AI in mortgage isn’t about “having AI.” It’s about re-architecting processes, eliminating the manual labor tax, and building compliance-first digital workers that scale.

The winners won’t be the ones with the flashiest features. They’ll be the ones who deliver outcome-based AI that transforms the entire ecosystem.

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