The AMC Industry Won’t Be Toppled by Code

We’ve entered an era where more people are giving AI broader directives, asking bigger questions, and expecting deeper responses, only to receive yet another AI-generated summary. But what, exactly, is AI doing in response? That’s the real limitation of the tech. Right now, millions are spinning their wheels in digital circles, posing complex problems to a machine built to mimic intelligence. And when the dust settles? Nothing tangible shifts. No policy reforms. No systemic corrections. Just more people mesmerized by a tool instead of taking real, committed steps toward actual change.

Think of the limitations of AI as something similar to a math equation in an educational book. All the software is capable of doing is repeating already known information to educate a student. The AI does not think per se, it is only trained on existing data, able to use existing formulas. What many people online end up doing is believing they are somehow more capable when using the AI tech, despite their inability or reluctance to form these arguments themselves in person without the AI tech assistants presence.

That’s where it’s capability ends and the responsibility to actually do something with the information falls on the human. So for every minute people spend quizzing AI tech systems about all their real world problems, is another minute gone by, that nobody is making any real world effort to actually solve the problem. AI is nothing new, it never brings anything new to the table, other than the occasional note of a human using it becoming slightly better educated on topic matter they were not equipped to use prior, based on their own previous personal education.

Wake me when the AI system forms a legal argument, writes an official case file complaint, whatever it is lawyers actually do, pays the court fees, officially represents the appraisal industry and takes the AMC industry down for known violations of multitudes of legal and procedural violations over the past two decades if not more. Can you program it to make phone calls and send two billion outbound calls and emails to AMC’s asking them for their best fee and turn time, give them a taste of their own medicine? Can it reach into their bank accounts and transfer the stolen $12 billion of market potential appraisers were deprived of and return this to the appraisal industry? Can it fix the rigged market forces that are bleeding appraisers dry and reset the scales before the entire industry collapses?

I’m not impressed with AI tech. Never will be either. There is more value in being independently capable without having to rely on these sorts of tools. We need an advocate. That’s what the appraisal trade groups are supposed to be doing, but they refuse to do so. We know that’s not happening, as AMC executives apparently pull the strings over there in a clear as day conflict of interest scenario.

If the masses of appraisers who have serviced, and continue to service, the AMC industry had been better educated on the principles of ethics, regulatory guidance, and the original spirit behind those standards, they might have collectively stopped the plunder. But they don’t truly understand ethics, regulation, or the reasoning behind either. That’s why they’ve been, and continue to be, complicit in consumer fraud, industry-wide unethical behavior, and the AMC industry’s rise as the dominant market force in appraisal.

The AMC industry, alongside the appraisers still willing to play by its rules, has commandeered the majority share of work from the largest client base on the planet: the GSE twins. And it’s not stopping there. With backroom deals and cozy alliances forged with select appraisers, the AMC industry has conspired for decades to plunder the hell out of the appraisal profession.

TAF and other groups basically begged the AMC industry to take this route, as their own long-standing procedural violations were proof positive that they prioritized personal wealth and self-dealing far above the needs of the majority of licensed appraisers. They ignored some of the most basic principals of ethics; to always be fair and honest, and never deceive or take advantage of positions of power and trust.

That’s where Jeremy Bagott came in and blew the lid off the Cosmic Cobra, exposing the never-ending, institutionalized violations of states’ administrative procedural acts. The damned rules change so often in the appraisal industry, nobody even tries to keep up. Ethical compliance in appraisal? Pure illusion. The top brass are aligned with corporations functioning as agents of lenders, raking in junk fees and deceiving consumers to the tune of billions over the years. They willingly supported every action taken by so-called ‘stakeholders,’ even when those actions blatantly contradicted the spirit of regulation and the mission of genuine consumer protection.

So when AI spits out another lifeless summary, untethered from the predatory policies, the devaluation of labor, or the compounding cost of living crisis, it’s no wonder people mistake noise for knowledge. Quantitative easing buried in housing. Artificial rates inflating prices. And still, no systems realigned, no power surrendered, no accountability restored. If we’re waiting on AI to fix what human greed broke, we’ll be waiting long past the point of no return.

The plunder continues.
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Writing that myself, without any computerized assistance beyond being online, took about an hour out of my day. The key takeaway isn’t about the time; it’s about being informed and understanding what’s actually going on. I can make these arguments in person, and I routinely do. That’s what real representation and real debate look like. There’s simply no substitute for the real thing. I keep writing letters to the so-called decision-makers, urging them to take a serious look at the appraisal industry and save it before we go over the cliff. Yes, some efforts have been made, but they haven’t moved the line an inch. Why? Because those at the top will never willingly give up their power or ill-gotten gains. They’ll torch the whole thing before they relinquish control. And that’s exactly what they did. Appraisal modernization. Again, the plunder continues.