Page 142 - Fortune-November 01, 2018

ar tifi c i al intelli gence + finance

MEETYOURNEW ROBOT

MORTGAGE LENDER

ONE THEORY HAS ARISEN in the decade since the flagged warning signs sooner. “Bad decisions around
subprime mortgage crisis: Machines may be better data can be found instantaneously and can be fixed,”
than humans at giving out home loans. A new Fannie says Blend CEO and cofounder Nima Ghamsari. While
Mae survey of mortgage lenders found that 40% of banks are not yet relying on A.I. for approval decisions,
mortgage banks have deployed A.I.—using it to auto- lending executives are already observing a secondary
mate the document-heavy application process, detect benefit of the robotic process: making home loans
fraud, and predict a borrower’s likelihood of default. accessible to a broader swath of America. Consumers
in what Blend defines as its lowest income bracket—a
San Francisco–based Blend, for one, provides its demographic that historically has shied away from 72%
online mortgage-application software to 114 lenders,
including lending giant Wells Fargo, shaving at least a applying in person—are three times as likely as other PERCENTAGE OF PEOPLE
week off the approval process. Could it have pre- groups to fill out the company’s mobile application. WHO ARE AFRAID OF
vented the mortgage meltdown? Maybe not entirely, Says Mary Mack, Wells Fargo’s consumer banking ROBOTS TAKING OVER
THEIR TASKS, ACCORD-
but it might have lessened the severity as machines head: “It takes the fear out.” —Jen Wieczner ING TO PEW RESEARCH

100
FO R T U N E. CO M // N O V. 1 . 1 8