Artificial intelligence is right up there with the most significant inventions of the century. I’m not exaggerating when I say this.
Just as the internet revolutionised communication, AI will alter almost every aspect of our lives, from the way we work to the way we communicate.
For those of us in financial services, this is not an abstract prediction about the distant future. AI is already here. It is already beginning to transform advice, insurance, asset management and the wider world of financial planning.
The question is no longer if advisers should engage with it, but how fast they can adapt before being left behind.
The other day, over lunch with Kevin Carr of Protection Review in central London, our conversation inevitably turned to artificial intelligence and its impact on advice. I mentioned a long-form piece on generative AI I was researching and stressed that advisers need to take this technology seriously.
It is practical, available, and developing at breakneck speed. Advisers need to act now and embed it into the advice process, or risk being overtaken by those who already are.
Our chat soon broadened to the insurance sector, particularly underwriting and claims, where front-desk staff could soon be replaced by AI systems capable of instant triage and decision-making.
At that very moment, his phone buzzed with an email titled Guide to AI in Underwriting. The article described how AI is already reshaping the field by complementing automation with human judgment. The timing was uncanny. I half-joked that his phone was listening in on our conversation.
Advisers need to up their game in this new AI-driven world
I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but I do believe our devices are monitored in ways most people don’t fully understand. That, however, is a debate for another day.
The real point is this: advisers need to up their game in this new AI-driven world. Tools are already emerging that could change the way they work forever.
Take AdvisoryAI, for example, a firm that bills itself as a “productivity co-pilot” for financial advisers. Its platform uses AI to accelerate paraplanning, streamline compliance, and automate back-office tasks. For advisers drowning in paperwork and red tape, this is a lifeline.
The company’s innovation was recognised this week at the Schroders UK Platform Awards, where it received the Outstanding Innovation prize. I happened to share a table with one of its pioneers, Stephen Mitchell, who was brimming with belief in the transformative power of AI.
He argues that it will not only improve productivity but also disrupt the structure of the industry, removing “middlemen” and enabling advisers to deal more directly with clients.
An AI digital adviser called Aida sat the Chartered Insurance Institute diploma in financial advice and outperformed human candidates on average across all six exams
This vision may unsettle some, but it is hard to dismiss when you see how fast the technology is advancing.
If further evidence was needed, consider the story that made headlines this week. An AI digital adviser called Aida sat the Chartered Insurance Institute diploma in financial advice and outperformed human candidates on average across all six exams.
For many advisers, this is the stuff of nightmares. The professional exams are supposed to be a high bar, a marker of expertise that distinguishes trained advisers from the unqualified. The fact that an AI system could not only sit, but excel, in them raises some thought-provoking questions.
What does it mean if a machine can do the technical learning better and faster than humans? Where, then, is the adviser’s value?
On one hand, AI poses a real threat to the sector. It can complete technical tasks at speed, write client reports and crunch data in ways that no human can match.
On the other hand, AI presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity. The most obvious is its potential to tackle the advice gap. According to the FCA, only 9% of the UK population can afford paid financial advice. That leaves millions without guidance on savings, pensions or protection.
AI-powered advisers, with their ability to scale cheaply and provide guidance for simpler needs, could serve exactly those groups currently priced out of the market.
There are areas where machines, no matter how sophisticated, will always fall short
The technology could make financial planning more accessible, democratising advice in the same way online banking democratised access to financial products.
And yet, AI is not the whole story. There are areas where machines, no matter how sophisticated, will always fall short. Empathy, compassion, nuance, creativity: these are uniquely human qualities that cannot be coded into an algorithm.
Financial advice is not just about tax wrappers and portfolio allocations. It is about trust, reassurance, and sometimes simply being there for clients during moments of vulnerability such as retirement, bereavement, or illness. An AI adviser can crunch numbers, but it cannot hold a client’s hand.
That is why the future is not about choosing between humans and AI. It is about blending the two. Advisers who harness AI for efficiency will have more time to devote to human connection. Those who ignore it may find themselves drowning in admin while competitors focus on clients.
The advisers who succeed in the coming decade will be those who adapt, not those who resist.
