Cost is rarely a feature when discussing AI. With ChatGPT subscriptions starting at £20 a month, AI feels cheap right now. It won’t stay that way. Here’s what most brokers don’t realise before they sign or renew an AI contract.
Did you know… “AI-powered” often just means “reselling someone else’s AI”?
A lot of tools being sold into the broker market are general-purpose large language models (LLM) – think ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude – with mortgage branding wrapped around them. That makes the provider a middleman and means every change in pricing made upstream eventually reaches you.
Did you know… the major AI model providers are losing money?
Analyst consensus is that prices must rise significantly before these AI companies start making money. Tools that feel affordable today are unlikely to feel affordable in two years’ time. Plan accordingly.
Did you know… your contract probably passes those price rises straight on to you?
Many AI contracts contain clauses that pass upstream cost increases through in full. Brokers often don’t notice until the invoice changes. Always get the answer in writing: are increases passed on fully, partly, or absorbed?
Did you know… “flat monthly fee” doesn’t always mean flat?
Plenty of AI tools are priced per query or per token underneath the headline number. Usage-based escalators kick in once you cross a threshold and by then the tool is woven through your advice journey and hard to remove.
Did you know… most mortgage tasks don’t need a giant LLM?
Running structured mortgage work through a huge general-purpose LLM is more expensive, less consistent, and wasteful. A good provider can tell you which tasks use AI, what kind, and why. If they can’t, they’re almost certainly defaulting to the most powerful (and costly) LLM available, and you’re paying for it.
Did you know… brokers can’t easily pass cost surprises on to clients?
Under Consumer Duty, demonstrating fair value matters more than ever. If a core advice tool suddenly costs materially more, your only options are absorb it, pass it on, or remove it from your system. None are good.
Did you know… Mortgage Brain handles this differently?
We build and run our AI in-house, on infrastructure we control, sized appropriately for the job it’s doing. That means predictable pricing, no exposure to upstream price hikes, and no surprises at renewal, exactly what a regulated broker firm needs from a technology partner.
Cost is a procurement question, not an afterthought. The firms that treat it that way now will be the ones still smiling when the AI pricing environment shifts.