Two lending software providers are adding AI enhancements for originators as mortgage companies carve their path in the rapidly changing artificial intelligence landscape.
Built on retrieval-augmented generation architecture that searches connected data sources and determines relevant context, Ask Aiva accepts and generates responses in plain conversational language. Empower users have the ability to click directly into results to view and verify source data and reasoning in Ask Aiva's output, according to company leaders.
"The data lenders need to answer important operational questions has been just out of reach — buried in their own systems," Dark Matter Technologies CEO Sean Dugan said in a press release. "Ask Aiva changes that by allowing users to ask questions of their origination environment and receive answers they can act on."
Introduced at Dark Matter's Horizon 2026 user conference this week, Ask Aiva's placement and development within the Empower LOS will help build trust among loan officers about the reliability of the output.
"The industry has seen a surge of AI tools that operate as bolt-ons, requiring users to leave their core systems and trust outputs without clear visibility into how they're generated," added the company's chief technology officer Vikas Rao.
"We built Ask Aiva differently. As one of the first AI experiences woven into the fabric of a mortgage LOS and deployed at scale, it gives lenders the ability to trace every answer back to its source, all within the system where they already work."
Future expected upgrades for the tool include links to information from lenders' own content sources and the ability to add institutional underwriting guidelines, product matrices and internal policies. Dark Matter also plans to later introduce borrower-facing capabilities to Ask Aiva.
Friday Harbor integrates with Calyx Path
In other software origination news, Calyx Path announced a new integration with the AI underwriting platform Friday Harbor. The tool helps perform many required underwriting tasks before the file reaches the underwriter, freeing them up from chasing down paperwork.
Working within the flow of the mortgage application, the ability to uncover and resolve potential problems at the beginning of the process will permit lending teams to concentrate on borrower relationships, the two companies said.
"Lenders are looking for ways to improve file quality earlier without adding more friction to their process," said Jeff Davis, director of sales at Calyx. "By bringing pre-underwriting intelligence directly into the flow of the loan, teams can catch issues sooner and reduce the amount of rework later."
"Cleaner files mean lower costs and faster closings," added
The underwriting tool also opens the door for better structured deals, with all originations team members able to view a loan file as it is being assembled. Originators can test scenarios against specific program guidelines to determine the best products for borrowers, Friday Harbor said.
A recent wave of AI tools and upgrades
The latest announcements follow a series of other recent rollouts from peer providers timed for release at recent client tech events, and highlights how the momentum for AI is growing within the industry.
"It's a force multiplier and a liberator for everyone who's a broker, a home mortgage consultant. It gets you out of a lot of the pre-work and the work that you don't enjoy doing, and it allows you to focus your time on the engagement with your customers," said Toby Brown, global managing director at Google Cloud for Financial Services, during a panel at ICE Experience 2026 in March.
Like Dark Matter's new tool, ICE Mortgage Technology's agents communicate in natural conversational English, putting spotlight on a valued feature showing up more often in new AI software, especially as developers push them out toward consumers.
Other similar origination-software products
