A senior research executive has revealed financial advisers’ adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) has to date been on a relatively basic level, assisting them with the more menial tasks of their businesses.
Investment Trends head of research Dr Irene Guiamatsia revealed around 37 per cent of advisers are already using AI in their practices and of this cohort 5 per cent indicated they are applying it extensively.
“So specifically, what are advisers using it for? Things like file notes [and other back-office tasks]. But right at the bottom of the pile [are tasks] like investment research and investment selection,” Guiamatsia told delegates yesterday at the Stockbrokers and Investment Advisers Association Conference held in Sydney.
“So in terms of the stratification of what advisers think [AI] should be important for is really the tedious tasks in the first instance.”
She pointed out this could be because practitioners have not been provided with the effective tools or education to allow them to use AI in a more sophisticated manner.
Edge Investment Partners group executive David Pritchard recognised his experience with current practitioner use of AI supported what Investment Trends had found.
“I think that we’re at the adoption curve and there are a few reasons for that. So I concur the kind of use cases I’m seeing are efficiency-type use cases – [assisting with] client emails, social media, marketing materials and those kinds of things,” Pritchard observed.
“That kind of adoption of AI is really quite basic and I think the reason for that is if you look at the tech apps advice businesses are using, most [of them don’t] yet have any embedded AI [in them].
“And a lot of the tech advisers use is quite difficult to get the data out of. So it’s not like you can just plug an AI tool into your Xplan or some other CRM (customer relationship management) [system] that you are using.
“So we really need the industry to lean in and get those embedded AI tools in the tech that advisers are using so they can drive that adoption arc further.”
