The survey comes as the wealth management industry continues to work out what parts of the value chain will be changed or even removed by AI, and how it might generate new business opportunities.

In a further twist to the debate on whether AI will augment advisors’ value or undermine it, a report from financial services group Edward Jones and Morning Consult finds that technology better equips advisors and doesn’t reduce clients’ need for human judgement and trust.

A US survey of financial advisors conducted May 15 to 27 finds that while technology is changing how advisors work, they are optimistic about the future of the profession. Advisors say clients are arriving at meetings better informed – often with perspectives shaped by digital tools and AI. 

Almost all advisors (97 per cent) say client conversations have moved beyond traditional investing topics to include wealth transfer, financial anxiety, life decisions and broader economic concerns.

More than half (53 per cent) of advisors lean toward AI as an opportunity to focus on higher-value client work, the survey found. Some 82 per cent of advisors use AI tools in their practice, and 69 per cent say it has benefited the industry. 

Clients are using AI to compare the advice they get from a person with what they receive via technology – 38 per cent of respondents said clients do this. Such a response highlights that advisors must acknowledge the reality of clients using AI to do their own research, take decisions and assess whether current advisory models give value for money. (See articles on the topic here, here and here.)