Once you see it, you can't unsee it

Over the past few months, especially this week during a Harvard leadership course, it has become clear that we must deal with the Elephant In The Room regarding AI and Mortgage Broking.

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Mortgage brokers are Australia's dominant home loan force; we have 76% and are still increasing. 

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Over decades, we have built trust, delivered real value, and helped millions of families make property moves while forcing banks to put future profit into the back pockets of Australian families.

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But just because we have that dominance doesn't mean we are invincible; to be fair, it puts a target on our backs.

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As brokers, we have dismissed most fintech, proptech, and personal finance tools over the past decade, and rightly so. I have personally followed it closely, and jumped at shadows way too many times. Few platforms have worked with Australian finances, but have you felt that things have massively shifted in what's possible after you played with Large Language Models like ChatGPT?

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The first thing I have noticed is their ability to build a trust-based connection with me due to the way they personalise communication, deliver information succinctly, and allow me to ask more questions.

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The second eye-opener for me came when I started using only voice. For months, I have been brain-dumping my thoughts without any structure in natural language, and time and time again, it gets it right without typing.

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That felt like a whole new level of using without having to think and be available no matter where I was or what I was doing.

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But finally, what has got me awake is learning about Agents and agentic AI — not just language models, but AI agents that can act, reason, plan, and connect systems across your life.

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I am clearly no AI expert, and I never will be, but it's hard to unsee the structural shift and its possible impacts on Mortgage Broking.

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Let's be real: banks have a shareholder responsibility to always hunt for ways to cut distribution costs and improve margins, and an AI broking platform is not as far-fetched as it felt just six months ago.

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As brokers, we have spent two to three decades working together in this industry, but market share growth will inevitably slow. When it does, we may stop competing with banks and start competing with ourselves—especially if new digital models take hold and try to cut us out.

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This isn't about trying to stoke fear. Still, it is about putting it out there that we must shift as an industry from the ignorance and arrogance that we are very important. 

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Customers will stay with us forever. Our value proposition will always win. When really, they want the outcome in whatever way suits them best.

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AI is actually a huge opportunity for businesses that grasp its potential and implement it in the coming years, if you're thinking like this I’d love to chat.

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