[Alice] Alright without further do we need to get to Mark Helm senior executive partner at Transformational Mortgage Solutions. And here you, mark. We can’t wait to hear your rant. We’ve heard some great thoughts from you today. Close this out.
[Marc] Allen set the pace for it there ’cause I’m gonna talk about something that’s near and dear. Y’all have heard me talk about ai and I’m a big user of AI and and I’ve improved my productivity so much. I truly believe in the next. Six to 10 months or 12 months, I’m gonna be producing twice as much as I used to do in the same period of time because of using AI to support me on different things from research to being my assistant, my secretary, my scribe, and whatnot. I can just do so much more and spend my time on creativity and editing things to make sure they’re exactly right and all kinds of things like that. But I’m a little afraid of what’s going on. In the conversations I have with ai, I start to feel, especially if you got AI talking to you, rather than just texting back to you and it can be in a, you can ask it to be in a certain accent or something and whatever it is and all that stuff. I’m starting to wonder, and this is because of my background in psychology, how many people out there. Might end up being controlled to some degree by their AI bots, not intentionally, but by being passive. And I’m giving you an example on that. Everything you put into AI for whatever system you’re using, basically is there somewhere. So over time, AI gets to know you real well. So when I’m writing something and I AI come back and say, mark don’t you think you need to say something about this in there because that’s your background or whatever like that, I start saying that’s another time they told me they know something about me that I wasn’t sure they picked up on that and doing that. So what I’m basically saying, i’m wondering if people will start hiring online AI bots to have relationships with them. Not sexual relationship necessarily, but social relationships. And then. You can ask AI to analyze things for you, SA tell me how an attorney would respond to this letter. But you could also say, tell me how a psychologist could respond to this letter. And based on what I’ve told you, how do you think I’m pursuing life right now? What are my pluses and minuses and all that? Maybe that’s not scary to anybody else on the phone, but that’s scary as hell to me because people can think things in their hand and think the Yeah, I bot is a be all, end all for all their questions. And it makes it go back to the science fictions. I movies I watched in my late teens and early twenties where we’re talking on spacecraft to the AI there and it was doing things and all. Are we ready to turn our lives over to ai? Because I think it’s beginning and I think it’s out there more than anybody thinks it is. And I can tell you from my personal experience, this is one of the things I wanna talk to Alan about offline. I’ve had some weird things AI said to me on assignments I’ve been working on and whatnot. It leads me to believe there’s an intuitive type thing there that most of us don’t understand is really in AI and how they look at things. And, I think there’s a sizing up of us being done every time we talk to ai, and I don’t think we realize that. And, so be careful what you share. You don’t know where it could end up, is what I’m saying. So maybe I’m the only one in the universe and it’s not really a rant, it’s a warning. Maybe I’m the only one in the universe that’s a little bit concerned about that because I think AI is indeed what we make it for each one of us. And we need to be aware. We might be making it for more than we can. And I think that the biggest concern I have advice that AI in a roundabout way could give back to somebody. Might not be exactly a hundred percent correct. Co we’ve all talked about four. AI is not a hundred percent correct. You find flaws in it all the time. So if somebody is saying what do you think I ought to do about this and this? ’cause I’m having this problem with these people and it gives you some advice on it and you follow it, who’s to say? That’s right? I, they didn’t get a degree in psychology. They didn’t do go through their comps and their lab work and getting a doctorate and a master’s degree. So with those things, you’re having that kind of person personality from AI give you counseling and whatnot. And maybe I am the only one on this call that’s rated what I just said, but I’m starting to get real concerned about it. So Alan, I’d love to hear your opinion.
[Allen] You’re spot on. Even before AI was mainstream, if you remember, there was a movie with Joaquin Phoenix called her. And it was like a pendant, or I can’t remember, it was a, like a small recording device that was his ai and he fell in love with her. He was an introvert. And there’s been other shows. There was a show on Netflix or Apple tv I, for just forgot the name of it. But after you pass, right? Before you pass away, oh, it’s called Upload. You can upload your brain into the machine and you live in a digital world forever, and people that are living can wear a special suit and communicate with you. It’s sci-fi, it’s far off, but the point is technology. Is getting to a point where people feel that AI is something bigger than what most of us really understand it is. And they do have relationships with it, and they do communicate with it. They do trust what it says. There’s a lot of proof of that and good and bad situations online. Mark , there are relationship at the CES show this year in Las Vegas. There were different things that are proving AI relationships are moving forward. There’s a lot of medical folks that are focused on the therapy side that are extremely worried about it and they’re still pushing for for in-person and zoom based therapy sessions because they don’t believe the AI truly can understand and handle what they know and how you communicate that with somebody. It’s very dry on the AI side. So anyways, I’m saying a lot of things here. I agree with you a hundred percent. And I do think that, there’s no way to stop it at this point. I think there’ll be some controls in the future, but yes, people will start having relationships and people will trust what it says. And AI continues to know everything about us. And it, by the way, before AI was out, I’ll say this really quick. When I worked at Fiserv, there were companies that wanted us to buy data to find new banking customers. if you went to CVS and bought Sudafed and you also went to Home Depot and bought a shovel, they know that you don’t have allergies. You likely have a head cold and you live in the Northeast, and I could buy that data and message all those people within one hour. So if you don’t think that the data lives somewhere, like you said early, mark, and you can connect all the data together, eventually we’ll know everything about you in your next move, then you’d be silly to think that’s not the case.
[Marc] So what got me going, Alan? I was checking for a friend of mine had developed some symptoms and I said, I’m just gonna ask. What do you thinks about this? And I gave ’em the symptoms and told about the friend, how old they were and all that stuff. I gave me a damn diagnosis as good as a doctor would’ve given. Now was it right or wrong? I’m not sure, but Right. It shocked me.
[Allen] I’ll throw, there’s a lot going on in medical. I’ll throw someone this weekend. You just reminded me. Actually it was last night. I was at a dinner party and somebody mentioned that an attorney took a very complex project and gave it to two junior attorneys. They both make somewheres around 200 and change a year. So they’re junior, but they, know what they’re doing and they make a good living and they have experience and they took the same project and he gave it to ai and the junior attorneys had it right, but AI had it better and faster within a minute.
[Alice] Yeah, and don’t, I’ll try at all. I don’t agree with you, mark. I’ll say I agree that there’s concerns. I actually have a friend, someone that I know who I have that concern for them right now as far as how they’re using ai. And I do think that. From a mortgage perspective. So if we kind of cycle this back into how it relates to mortgage, all our employees, we would use the term partners at Union Home. All of the people that we work with and all the people around us are still trying to figure out how it works. So maybe we need to make sure, there’s a lot of awareness out there for people that I, one way I looked at it was, it’s like the arrogant know-it-all at the party who says they know everything and is real quick to give you an answer. And if you get that funny feeling about the answer, you’ve gotta go double check it. That’s how I feel about the AI answers I get right now is ’cause every time there’s something wrong, every single time I get an answer, when I talk about mortgage related items. And it can be something as simple as saying something’s. 3% versus a 2%, but that’s a big deal. And or and then when I go back and say, Hey, you were dead wrong. Oh, I’m sorry. Yeah, I was wrong. Okay, then why don’t you give me that answer? So I think we’re still working it through. Everyone should be aware that it’s an issue. I agree with you.
Marc Helm
, CEO, and Author
Marc Helm serves as a Principal Partner at Transformational Mortgage Solutions, bringing over 46 years of extensive experience in the financial services and mortgage banking industry. Currently serving as the President and CEO of both ReverseAmerica Advisors, Inc. and Mortgage Consultants of America (MCA), Marc has established a proven track record of leadership and accomplishments, both within and beyond the mortgage banking sector.
In his notable role as the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Reverse Mortgage Solutions, Inc. (RMS), Marc played a pivotal role in steering RMS to become one of the largest Ginnie Mae Securitizers, originators, and servicers/sub servicers in the reverse mortgage industry. His influence has reached various key positions in the industry, including serving as Chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Loan Administration Committee and Chairman of the MBA Technology Committee. Recognizing his expertise, he has been honored with memberships in prestigious advisory boards such as the Fidelity (LPS) Information Systems Mortgage Servicing Advisory Board and the National Reverse Mortgage Lender Association’s (NRMLA) Board of Directors.
Marc’s commitment to community involvement and philanthropy is evident in his roles as a Board Member of the American Heart Association (AHA), his past chairmanship of the AHA’s “Open Your Heart Campaign” for the Paul “Bear” Bryant National Coach of The Year Award, and his service on the boards of additional organizations such as The Helm Foundation. His dedicated support extends to various causes, including initiatives for children, veterans, military service organizations, and the welfare of homeless mothers and children.
Marc’s dedication to philanthropy is complemented by his prior involvement in various committees and campaigns, such as his role as the Former Chairman for the Houston Area Special Olympics Campaign and Former Chairman of the Houston Area United Way Campaign.
Beyond his professional achievements and community engagement, Marc Helm is a family man, celebrating 49 years of marriage to Sallie Fortner Helm. Together, they have two children, Thomas Charles Helm and Dr. Jean Ann Helm Allen, and five grandchildren. Holding a BS Degree (Summa Cum Laude) and an MS Degree from Troy University, Marc showcases his commitment to education and continuous learning. Currently pursuing a PHD in Organizational Psychology, Marc Helm’s multifaceted expertise, leadership roles, and philanthropic contributions make him an invaluable Principal Partner at Transformational Mortgage Solutions and reinforces his active role as a Co-Host of the “Lykken on Lending” Podcast.