Eastern Union's Bergman describes how employees have picked up more work by automating tasks
The question hanging over every office that uses AI is what it will do to the people who work there. Brokerages that have put AI to work are starting to see how it changes what each employee does all day.
For commercial mortgage brokers, one possible outcome is more work. Senior brokers who can handle more deals with the help of AI need more people supporting them.
The catch is that not everyone on staff adapts at the same pace, and employees who treat the technology as a threat can find that it becomes one.
A recent survey by AD Mortgage showed there is still some reluctance to adopt AI technology, with just 55% of mortgage pros surveyed saying they planned to adopt new technology.
Abe Bergman (pictured top), president of Eastern Union, said his view on AI and jobs has shifted over the past couple of months. He now believes the technology will create more jobs.
"I don't think that AI is going to cause there to be fewer jobs in America," Bergman told Mortgage Professional America. "I actually think there's going to be more jobs."
Why he expects more jobs
Bergman said if commercial brokers can take on more files thanks to AI, that means they’ll need more back-office support to get those files processed, meaning more jobs.
"I look at it that if I and my other senior brokers can do so much more, so much better, that means they're going to need more people supporting them utilizing AI," Bergman said.
Doing more matters in a slower market, he said, with fewer sales and fewer refinancings.
"You need to work harder to find that business," Bergman said. "You need to go hunting more frequently."
About nine months ago, the firm saw what its senior brokers can do with AI when one of them underwrote a complicated structured deal in about two hours using Claude and produced a finished package. The result led the firm to rethink how it prepares packages and underwrites deals.
"The old Amazon didn't eliminate the retailer, just changed who the retailer is," Bergman said. "I actually see this as going to increase productivity in the country, increase GDP in the country, and create more jobs in the country."
Some workers will feel pain from the change, he said, because it may affect their jobs.
"On the other hand, there's going to be the same number, if not a greater number of people that are going to benefit from it because they're going to have a job," Bergman said.
None of that removes the human side of the business, he said. Clients still need it, and what AI takes over is the work that never required it.
"I can spend more of my time on my day with more clients with the part that they needed me, not the part that I just unfortunately had to do and it took up my time," Bergman said.
How to adapt
Eastern Union was like many other companies in that its salaried employees saw AI in one of two ways, according to Bergman.
"Those who viewed it as a threat to their job, it was a threat to their job," Bergman said. "And unfortunately some of them had to change careers or change jobs because of it."
The other group set out to automate as much of their day as they could.
"Those who said, 'I'm going to fully adapt, and I'm going to look to automate as much of my day as I can because then I'll be a greater value to the company,'" Bergman said. "On the contrary, they're busy full-time, they got 40-plus hours of work a week, and they're just doing a lot more, and they're involved in much more important and much more valuable items."
One administrator has automated 80% of her work, he said. Preparing Docusign packages used to take her three to four hours, and it now takes 20 minutes.
"She picked up a lot of other work because she was the one who had availability, and she's the one who naturally said, 'Okay, I'll take care of it, I'll take care of that,’" Bergman said.
Employees who adapt are doing better, he said, and they are taking on higher-value work.
"They feel better about their job because they're not doing stuff that really didn't require a lot of thinking, but it was just robotic work," Bergman said. "They've eliminated that on their own, and those that did that are excelling and doing very, very well."
Adapting comes with cautions, he said, and the first is accuracy. An error he published online, for example, could be picked up by the models.
"Not everything AI tells you is correct," Bergman said. "And I personally think it's gotten better."
Another concern is how AI-drafted messages read. He uses AI to help draft his own emails, Bergman said, but the message has to go out as his.
"When I send out the email, to me it's very important that the email should go out from me, my personality, with my intention," Bergman said.
An email that reads as obviously AI-written makes him question the sender, he said.
"It could be very, very on point, the message, but it makes you start wondering, did the person even read what they sent me, or did they just generate it and click send?" Bergman said.
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