As employers increasingly seek AI-ready talent, Outamation, an AI-native mortgage operations technology company, and Extern, a platform connecting students with real-world work experience, have announced that 4,046 students completed two externship programs focused on building practical artificial intelligence skills. The programs were designed to close the gap between learning about AI and actually applying it in a business context, giving students experience that traditional coursework often lacks.
The externships offered two levels of learning: a seven-week Foundational program introducing AI, natural language processing, and computer vision, and a five-week Advanced program where students fine-tuned their own AI models and built multi-step AI agents to automate document workflows. Using sample mortgage documents created for training, students trained AI to recognize common document types and wrote Python code to extract key information automatically. They also built AI systems that answer questions about documents and tested open-source AI models, skills applicable across finance, real estate, and other industries.
Participants came from 934 schools and 59 countries, demonstrating open access at scale regardless of location or background. Advanced participants presented their recommendations to Outamation stakeholders, comparing AI models on accuracy, cost, and ease of use. This work provided Outamation with independent evaluations of AI tools its own team is weighing, while students gained experience making and defending recommendations to decision-makers.
“Every student today will build a career alongside AI. The question is whether they learn it by doing real work or by watching from the sidelines,” said Lisa Guadagno, Chief People Officer of Outamation. “4,046 students chose to do the work. Our job as employers is to give the next generation the tools and the opportunity to succeed.”
“AI skills on their own are not enough. Students learn the most when they solve real business problems with people who know the industry and people who know the technology,” says Sapan Bafna, Founder & CEO of Outamation. “Our mortgage experts and AI engineers designed this curriculum together. Students learned to use AI the way it is used on the job.”
“Most companies stay out of this because they picture a program they would have to build and staff. Taking that burden on is what Extern is for. Outamation handed students a real problem and got independent evaluations of the AI tools their own team is weighing in return. Having to make a recommendation and defend it to the people who will act on it is the part no course can simulate,” said Matt Wilkerson, CEO at Extern.
Building on these results, Outamation and Extern will work together on a new program designed to evolve alongside advances in AI, so students continue learning the skills employers will need next. Students interested in future programs can learn more at www.extern.com. Outamation, an AI-native mortgage operations technology company, offers the Outamate product suite that automates document generation, client communications, loss mitigation, lien release, quality control, and document AI for lenders and servicers. The company was the first U.S. mortgage technology company to achieve ISO/IEC 42001 certification and also holds ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II. It debuted on the Inc. 5000 at No. 133 and has more than 250 team members across Dallas, Miami, and India. More information is available at outamation.com.
