More than 4,000 students have completed hands-on artificial intelligence training through two externship programs developed by Outamation, a mortgage operations technology company, and Extern, a platform that connects students with real-world work experience. The programs, which ran in 2026, were designed to bridge the gap between theoretical AI education and practical application, with students building functional AI tools and delivering their findings directly to Outamation.
The externships were structured in two levels. A seven-week Foundational program introduced students to AI, natural language processing, and computer vision. A five-week Advanced program allowed participants to fine-tune their own AI models and build multi-step AI agents to automate document workflows. Students worked with sample mortgage documents, training AI to recognize common document types and writing Python code to extract key information automatically. They also tested open-source AI models, comparing them on accuracy, cost, and ease of use. Advanced participants presented their recommendations to Outamation stakeholders, simulating the accountability of a professional technology team.
The scale of participation underscores the program's reach: students from 934 schools across 59 countries took part, demonstrating that hands-on AI education can be delivered at scale regardless of location or background. The curriculum was created by Outamation's mortgage domain experts and AI engineers, with Nirmal Patel, Chief AI Officer, leading program design and Devang Kamdar, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, providing leadership and support. Mike Eng, Head of Partnerships, led the effort for Extern.
This initiative matters because employers are increasingly seeking AI-ready talent, yet many students graduate without practical experience applying AI to business problems. By collaborating with Extern, Outamation not only gained independent evaluations of open-source AI models its own team is considering, but also contributed to building a workforce pipeline. As Lisa Guadagno, Chief People Officer of Outamation, noted, "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." 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."
Matt Wilkerson, CEO at Extern, emphasized the value of the partnership: "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 open-source AI models 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."
Building on these results, Outamation and Extern plan to launch a new program designed to evolve alongside advances in AI, ensuring students continue to learn the skills employers will need next. Students interested in future programs can learn more at www.extern.com.
