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 completed two externship programs that provided 4,046 students with hands-on experience building artificial intelligence tools. The programs, announced on October 13, 2026, were designed to bridge the gap between theoretical AI education and practical application, allowing students to work on sample mortgage documents and develop working AI solutions. This initiative matters because it directly addresses the shortage of candidates with practical AI skills, offering a scalable model for workforce development that could influence how companies and educational institutions approach AI training.
The externships were structured in two levels: 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. Students trained AI to recognize common mortgage 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. Advanced participants presented their recommendations to Outamation stakeholders, simulating a professional technology team's workflow. The programs attracted students from 934 schools and 59 countries, demonstrating open access at scale regardless of location or background.
Lisa Guadagno, Chief People Officer of Outamation, emphasized the importance of experiential learning: “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. 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.” Sapan Bafna, Founder & CEO of Outamation, added, “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. Our mortgage experts and AI engineers designed this curriculum together. Students learned to use AI the way it is used on the job.”
The collaboration also yielded benefits for Outamation. Matt Wilkerson, CEO at Extern, explained, “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.” This reciprocal value proposition—students gaining experience while companies receive fresh insights—could encourage more employers to invest in similar programs.
Building on these results, Outamation and Extern will collaborate on a new program designed to evolve alongside advances in AI, ensuring students continue learning the skills employers will need next. Students interested in future programs can learn more at www.extern.com. Outamation, which debuted on the Inc. 5000 at No. 133 and holds ISO/IEC 42001, ISO 27001, and SOC 2 Type II certifications, is an AI-native mortgage operations technology company automating document generation, client communications, loss mitigation, lien release, quality control, and document AI for lenders and servicers. More information is available at outamation.com.
