Heron Financial has unveiled an artificial intelligence (AI) ethics committee and student cohort.
The mortgage and protection broker’s newly formed AI ethics committee will give employees the opportunity to offer input on how AI is utilised, which ensures that innovation will be balanced with transparency, fairness and accountability.
Heron Financial said the AI training will be a “combination of technical learning with ethical oversight” to ensure the “responsible integration” of the technology into Everglades, its digital platform.
As part of its AI student cohort, a number of members from different teams will be upskilled with an AI development programme.
Matt Coulson (pictured), the firm’s co-founder, said: “I’m proud to be launching our first AI learning and development cohort. We see AI not just as a way to enhance our operations, but as an opportunity to enhance our people.
“By investing in their skills, we’re giving them knowledge they can use in their work and daily lives. Human and technology centricity are part of our core values; it’s only natural we bring the two together.”
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‘It’s about combining technology and human expertise to raise the bar’
Alongside this, Heron Financial’s Everglades platform will be embedded with AI-driven innovations comprising an AI reporting assistant, an AI adviser assistant and a prediction model, which it said uses basic customer details to predict the likelihood of them gaining a mortgage.
The platform aims to support prospective and existing homeowners by simplifying processes, as well as providing a referral route for clients and streamlining the sales-to-mortgage process to help sales teams and housebuilders.
Also in the pipeline is a new generation of AI ‘agents’ within Everglades, which Heron Financial said will further automate and optimise the whole adviser journey.
Coulson added: “We expect these developments to save hours in the adviser servicing journey, enabling our advisers to spend more time with clients and less time on admin. It’s about combining technology and human expertise to raise the bar for the whole industry.”
At the beginning of the year, Coulson discussed the firm’s green retrofit process in an interview with Mortgage Solutions.
