Artificial intelligence

With its acquisition of artificial intelligence and machine learning developer HeavyWater, Black Knight is turning to its Artificial Intelligence Virtual Assistant to streamline the mortgage process, with an immediate focus on the originations sector.

Black Knight has acquired HeavyWater, a developer of artificial intelligence and machine learning technology for the mortgage industry, and plans to incorporate the startup's borrower data verification and other automation capabilities into its existing product suite.

Mortgage settlement software provider Qualia is getting a new $33 million round of funding that it will use to expand into additional U.S. markets.

As digital mortgage technology helps consumers take a more hands-on approach to the mortgage process, lenders are stepping up their adoption of automation and machine learning through artificial intelligence capabilities.

It’s highly debatable whether the artificial intelligence engines that online lenders typically use, and that banks are just starting to deploy, are capable of making credit decisions without inadvertent prejudices.

U.S. Bank has begun using Einstein, Salesforce’s AI software, to give front-line staff insights into customer activity and recommendations. Other banks are likely to add similar tools.