AI for SBA Information - Does it Work?

I often get contacted by clients with questions related to SBA 7A and SBA 504 loans and the SBA Standard Operating Procedure ("SOP") and wanting to clarify information that they have learned from Chat GPT or one of the other AI softwares. Sometimes the AI has been used just to research the SOP. Other times it is a web based research. Although on occasion the client has already gotten the correct answer from AI, 95%+ of the time the answer is not correct or at least is not the full answer to the question. The issue that AI has with understanding the SBA lending programs more broadly when searching the internet is that their is a ton of information available and that information is not always correct because the SBA program parameters are constantly changing. Over the last three years there have been substantial changes to the program, many of which have contradicted or amended past changes. AI struggles to identify which are the most current changes and what the accurate answer is. In addition, many Banks put out criteria about how they do SBA lending that is more conservative than what the SBA will allow. Often AI will interpret a Bank's underwriting guidelines as an SBA rule, when in fact it is not an SBA rule but an individual Bank rule. So understanding that difference is important. We are often correcting clients in what the actual SBA rules are as opposed to what a Bank may require with their own underwriting and internal policies. This comes up often related to minimum debt service coverage ratios, post-closing liquidity requirements, allowed seller note terms, etc. Even when AI is used to search the SOP directly, we often find the answer is not entirely accurate. The reason for this is three fold. First, there are multiple sections in the SOP that talks about how certain rules or requirements are applied. Some of the ways they are applied can be very nuanced to each individual situation. We have found that AI usually pulls out a generic answer that does not always fit the specific situation the client is looking at. Secondarily, not every change or guidance provided by the SBA is included within the SBA SOP. The SBA is constantly issuing guidance and minor rule changes through "Procedural" and "Information" notices. These notices do not always end up in the version of the SOP being analyzed. Without this additional data, the answer AI spits out could be incorrect. Lastly, the SBA SOP includes guidelines related to best practices or Bank's standard lending policies, so without knowing what those items are, you may not get a correct answer on a question from AI. If you really want to get to the bottom of what the SBA will actually allow, you really need to talk to an expert. Unless AI develops to the point where it can tell what the most current information is and can analyze that information between different scenarios, the only way you can ensure a correct answer is through an expert. If you ever have questions related to the SBA loan programs, we would be happy to answer them. We work with over 500 different lending institutions and over 100 SBA lending teams at those various institutions, so we have help you clarify what the actual rules are. You can reach me here or directly at redacted