When AI goes wrong in wealth management

As you may have noticed, artificial intelligence is seemingly everywhere. New standalone AI tools that promise the moon and stars come online daily. And existing technology solutions are routinely injecting more and more AI into their current offerings, whether or not anyone asks for it.

More than a few financial advisors have been watching these developments with a skeptical eye.

Roughly half of wealth management firms are moving forward with AI adoption, while the other half is holding back, according to the inaugural “Cost of AI” research report by Arizent, Financial Planning’s parent company.

READ MORE: Advisors clamor for estate planning tools as attorneys wave red flags

Most financial advisors use generative artificial intelligence at least occasionally in their practice, but they generally feel more comfortable using it in their personal lives than at work, according to a recent Financial Advisor Confidence Outlook (FACO) survey by Financial Planning.

In fact, according to another recent FACO study by Financial Planning, around four in 10 advisors are at least moderately concerned AI will replace them.

Don’t worry about being made redundant, though, boosters will insist. These tools are merely enablers meant to save advisors time so they can build and foster the irreplaceable human connections at the center of this business, they say.

But what about when AI makes things more difficult? When using it takes longer than it would have without it? You may end up prompting an AI chatbot so many times that you reverse engineer the process of thinking with your actual human brain before the robot spits out something remotely usable.

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Clients, too, may not appreciate the value you bring to the advisory relationship if they suspect you rely on AI tools too heavily.

Scroll down the slideshow to read more on five cases in which AI is creating more problems than it solves.