We talk to a law firm expert about family offices and her take on how these organizations view AI and its impact.

Family offices have experienced a drive to push AI tools, but they fear that joining an AI “gold rush” is risky without fully testing what this technology can do, a senior figure at international law firm Faegre Drinker told this news service recently.

There are questions that families need to be aware of, the firm said, reflecting on the 2026 Global Family Office Report of Citi Wealth, issued in September. It drills into details of what family offices are doing, including their use of AI. (See here.)

Rightly mindful about privacy, this and control over data are important topics for family offices. (See a related article here.)

“Putting family information into an AI tool…who is doing the due diligence? And where is all the information going?” Gwen Williamson, who leads the investment structuring, compliance and regulatory management capabilities for the firm, said. She advises on structuring, forming, and operating single- and multi-family offices, as well as pooled investment vehicles, co-investments, and alternative investments across asset classes and jurisdictions.

“Large financial institutions have been working on their own internal technology systems, and in separate areas, for years. It is now about moving from automation from generative AI,” she continued. “Agentic AI is pretty far advanced.”

Where AI regulation is concerned, “we have to have the human in the loop,” she said. “If you’re a regulated entity that has to keep records, that transcript will go onto the record automatically. A human has to look at it.” 

Williamson pointed out that if humans need to monitor AI to that degree, as might be the case, it adds to processes. 

As reported here, in its 2026 Global Family Office Report, Citi Wealth said that family offices are deploying AI across investment analysis, information management, reporting, workflow automation and decision support processes.

The ways in which AI affects the family offices industry is a large focus area, as shown at Family Wealth Report's summit held in New York in October. (See reports here and here.)

On the investment front, the vast majority (90 per cent) of more than 350 family offices surveyed worldwide by Citi Wealth reported positive portfolio returns since the start of 2026, with 41 per cent of them continuing to set their sights on annual returns in a range of 7 to 10 per cent. Family offices avoided wholesale portfolio repositioning, choosing to actively manage money, employ hedging strategies and make targeted changes amidst geopolitical turmoil.

Williamson said that so far this year, AI stocks have boosted equities. However, there is “extraordinary uncertainty” in the policymaking realm: some of the deregulation and changes under the current administration have been carried out. A point in question is what happens if or when there is a different administration, she said. (Her comments came ahead of the US mid-term elections being held today.)