This year’s Schwab IMPACT conference in Boston was “more like an AI conference,” said one advisor. Another, after attending one of many sessions on artificial intelligence, said it was all “a bit overwhelming.” Trying to keep up with AI developments that “seems like it’s changing every month” feels nearly impossible, said a frustrated RIA.
Undoubtedly, artificial intelligence was top of mind for advisors at the conference, said Derek Bruton, head of M&A for Modern Wealth Management, summing up the prevailing sentiment. “Advisors aren’t sure what to do with AI,” Bruton said, “but they are afraid of missing the boat.”
Artificial intelligence indeed dominated the 39th annual conference of the industry’s largest custodian , from grass roots concerns among the 6,000 attendees to a plethora of conference sessions to sweeping executive suite pronouncements.
Schwab’s decision to offer Anthropic’s Claude for Financial Advisors, a suite of AI-powered tools, was much discussed by top executives and debated by advisors. The 20-seat enterprise minimum drew blowback from smaller firms, forcing Schwab and Anthropic to offer a $4,800 credit for firms signing up by November.
Schwab will also block AI agents that try to log into client accounts on their behalf, CEO Rick Wurster said. “We are keeping rogue agents from being able to log in on the client’s behalf,” Wurster said. "When you look on a weekly basis, it's 30, 40, 50 times that we might be seeing a particular AI agent come to our sites and try to log in, and we are blocking it."
Rick Wurster
Buzziest conference acronym: MCP
The acronym “MCP” was a big buzzword at the conference. Released as an open source by Anthropic two years ago, MCP has caught on in a big way as an open standard that defines how AI applications connect to external tools, data sources, and services.
MCP clients inside AI apps tend to send requests to MCP servers, which expose tools, resources, and prompts through one consistent interface. As a result, any compatible app can use any compatible server without a custom integration. For example, Claude for Advisors will come in through an MCP server, Wurster said.
“MCP has democratized the sharing of data and integration,” said Hunter Romano, head of sales for AI CRM developer Slant. “It’s like giving people a key to what was a walled garden, making it easier to share data and connect systems.”
Diagram of how MCP adds to connections
Talk, don’t type to AI
The biggest change in the past six months for advisors has been the transition from chatbots to agents which can accomplish multi-step tasks. Productivity by advisors will increase as agents do operational work in the future, Peter Nolan , head of asset and wealth management for Anthropic, said.
Peter Nolan
Advisors can also anticipate more interaction with AI agents by speaking instead of typing, according to Joel Bruckenstein , president of T3 Technology, one of the industry’s best known tech consultants. “Voice will be the primary interface with AI instead of typing, and that’s going to be a massive change,” Bruckenstein said.
Joel Bruckenstein
As fast as AI is changing, there could be even more speedy innovation ahead, according to Nolan. AI has “way more capabilities” that we’re seeing now, according to Nolan. Currently “limiting” AI are the regulatory environment and “smart architecture,” he explained.
AI adoption could also be more rapid, Nolan said. “People are the bottleneck,” he said. “Trying to change the way people work is the hardest thing.”
Who will make the cut?
Advisors may be safe in an AI future, but not all employees will be so lucky. Software developers, call center workers and middle and back office staffers will bear the brunt of the AI labor reductions, said Nevis CEO Mark Swan.
Then again, maybe advisors shouldn’t feel so secure: Swan said he knew of at least three new AI-native “fully agentic” RIAs, and he expected at least one of them to be among the industry’s top largest firms within the next three to five years.
At present, advisors at the conference indicated that they are extremely concerned about AI’s impact on data security and compliance. When it comes to AI, “governance is top of mind for advisors,” said Jon Beatty , head of Schwab Advisor Services.
The custodian’s chief technology officer Tim Weir warned advisors of “all the tools using data that you may not expect or want.”
Jon Beatty
Ditch “artisinal cognitive labor” and other AI tips
Advisors also got plenty of AI tips. Author and educator Jeremy Utley told them not to worry about feeling behind, because everyone is. Pay for an AI subscription, Utley said, it’s smarter and more secure. Talk to AI, don’t type; let AI ask you questions and lose your pride feeling you have to do “artisanal cognitive labor,” i.e. doing work AI can do more quickly.
The biggest challenge for advisors, according to Beatty, was Utley’s admonition to not use AI as a tool, instead viewing the technology as a “highly capable teammate” and working with AI.