At CMP’s Mortgage Fest, REMIC founder and CEO Joe White sat down with Canadian Mortgage Professional to answer the question every agent and broker is asking right now: what does AI mean for this profession?
His short answer: AI is here to stay. Agents who ignore it will fall behind. And the ones who use it well will make the case for licensed advice stronger than ever.
Key takeaways
- AI tools sound certain but often get the fine details wrong, because they learn from accurate and inaccurate information alike.
- Gate your AI tools so they only draw on accurate, verified information.
- At intake, ask every client: “Have you run anything by AI? What did it tell you?”
- Licensed brokers are accountable. They’re licensed, carry errors and omissions insurance and answer to a regulator. AI does none of that.
AI sounds sure of itself. That’s the problem.
AI tools give answers that sound completely certain. In many cases, they get the fine details wrong. They’re trained on everything on the internet, the accurate and the inaccurate.
“It treats us like kids,” Joe said, “telling us what we want to hear confidently.”
That matters when a client is making the biggest purchase of their life. And many consumers don’t realize they’re already getting AI answers. When Google puts a Gemini summary at the top of a search, that’s AI talking.
Gate the AI
The approach Joe teaches is called gating. You enclose the tool so it only draws on accurate, verified information. An ungated tool goes out and pulls whatever it finds, right or wrong.
Ask every new client one question
Here’s a practical step you can use this week. At intake, ask your client: “Have you run anything by AI? What did it tell you?”
Correcting the wrong information clients bring to the table is now one of the most important parts of the job.
Why the broker’s value is clearer than ever
- Brokers are licensed. AI isn’t.
- Brokers carry errors and omissions insurance. If something goes wrong, the client is protected.
- Brokers answer to a regulator. Nobody stands behind a chatbot’s answer.
- Competence takes years to build. AI only offers confidence.
- People need people. A client facing a power of sale, or a condo closing that’s falling apart, needs empathy and someone who understands.
AI tools are designed to be helpful, and that often means pleasing you. An AI might tell a client they’ll get approved and should start house hunting. A broker’s job is to give advice grounded in reality, even when it’s harder to hear.
The regulatory gap
Joe has raised this directly with an MPP. Ask ChatGPT to act as your mortgage broker and it will happily start asking for your financial information. Regulators still haven’t worked out who oversees AI advice in financial services.
Meanwhile, consumers are already using it. In REMIC’s national survey with Abacus Data, released in July 2026, 26% of Canadians aged 18 to 29 used AI for financial or mortgage advice in the past year, compared with 17% who used a licensed professional.
Adopt it, but do it with intent
AI has real shortcomings, and it’s still here to stay. Joe’s advice to the industry: adopt it in an intelligent, meaningful, and intentional way, or get left behind.
That’s what REMIC trains for. Whether you’re starting at Mortgage Agent Level 1, moving up to Level 2, working toward your broker licence, or building your AI and social media skills along the way, we have a program for where you are in your career.
Frequently asked questions
No. AI can give quick general answers, but it often gets the fine details wrong, isn’t licensed and carries no errors and omissions insurance. A licensed broker gives advice grounded in the client’s real situation and is accountable for it.
Not clearly. Mortgage brokers and agents are licensed and answer to a provincial regulator, such as FSRA in Ontario, but regulators haven’t yet worked out who oversees AI advice in financial services.
Gating means enclosing an AI tool so it only draws on accurate, verified information. An ungated tool pulls whatever it finds online, right or wrong.
In REMIC’s national survey with Abacus Data, released in July 2026, 26% of Canadians aged 18 to 29 used AI for financial or mortgage advice in the past year, compared with 17% who used a licensed professional.
Educational content. Not mortgage advice.
