The AI Revolution

AI is already impacting the business of advice: changing client expectations, and providing you with opportunities to do more with less. But now it's time to turn our attention to the more practical – and talk about how you can integrate aspects of AI into your organization in simple ways that amplify (rather than alter) your business model.

Of course, understanding matters. But understanding and action are two very different things.

Step 1: Prepare

As action-oriented professionals, advisors often initially approach AI from a 'buy more tools' perspective. In hindsight, however, they quickly learn that building capacity needs to be their firm's first move.

Right now, what I'm seeing and hearing from most teams is a massive disparity in understanding. One partner may be deeply engaged in AI while his leadership counterpart is avoiding it completely. Not only is this a recipe for continued friction, but the push-pull dynamic inevitably stalls progress.

Start by getting everyone up to the same baseline. You don't need everyone to become an AI expert, but you DO need to develop a shared language around:

• Effective prompts;
• Workable models;
• Defined limitations;
• Where AI works; and
• Where it doesn't.

Keep in mind that although these tools are powerful, they're not perfect. AI can make mistakes (and sound incredibly confident in the process). So, the first step should always be about education – not blind trust. Pick one course/program and do it together. For free or low-cost learning, focus on "official" programs such as:

• Google AI Essentials – offers a beginner-friendly certification path
• Microsoft Learn – provides a large free AI learning hub
• AWS – has free "learn about AI" training along with a broader AI learning center
• DeepLearning.AI – serves up short courses like agentic AI and multi-agent systems
• Anthropic – now offers an AI Fluency: Framework and Foundations program; and
• OpenAI Academy – provides a range of practical workplace learning content.

For technical team members, Anthropic and DeepLearning.AI both have hands-on agent courses that move beyond basic theory. The key is to build your firm's AI muscle as a team.

Step 2: Apply

Before jumping into the deep end, take some time to think about your day-to-day operation. What tasks are you wasting time on – things that are relatively simple but labor intensive? Where in your workflow does the ball tend to get dropped? And where are you regularly redoing work?

These areas are the low-hanging fruit where AI should be able to quickly add value. Areas such as meeting prep, transcribing notes, meeting follow-ups, and internal communication. In fact, you're probably already employing AI in some form or another in a couple of these areas.

Over time, as your comfort level increases, you can then start to look at whether (and where) AI might support your planning efforts. When you begin looking at platforms like TaxStatus and Advice.ai, things start to get interesting. And that's not hype – it's direction. These platforms provide:

• Better data
• Better inputs
• Faster insight

Just look at the healthcare industry if you want to see where things are heading. They have a history of moving quickly from experimentation to real use – and AI is no exception. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), roughly 75% of U.S. healthcare systems have adopted AI across a range of functions – from clinical documentation to imaging analysis, and administrative automation.

They may be at the forefront, but wealth management has finally begun to move in the same direction. Before going too far down the road, however, it's important to take some time to consider risk because it's the one area where advisors tend to either freeze or fly too fast.

If you're using public AI tools, be thoughtful about what information you're putting into them. The SEC has made it very clear that you are responsible for how these tools are used. That includes how client information is handled, how outputs are reviewed, and how advice is delivered. Unless an AI tool has been specifically approved by your firm or your compliance team, your fiduciary duty precludes you from inputting:

• Specific client data;
• Personally identifiable information; or
• Anything confidential

Understand where your data is going. Know what's being retained. And always have a human reviewing the output before it ever reaches a client.

It's not about slowing down. It's about being smart while you move.

Step 3: Redesign

Here's where firms tend to get mired down because it's not just about adding a tool, it's about changing the process of how work gets done. Let's be honest, you've built habits over the years based on what's worked. But some of those habits have become increasingly expensive – requiring a shift where you:

• Set clear policies;
• Define approved AI tools;
• Train your team on them;
• Pick two or three workflows to redesign;
• Measure time saved, quality and client impact; and
• Then talk openly with your team about what's working and what isn't.

Remember, the goal isn't to replace people, it's to create capacity that will allow you to spend more time where you matter most.

AI is still in its infancy, and as such, will inevitably make mistakes – from misreading context to overstating confidence. So don't hand over judgment but instead use it to support your thinking rather than replace it.

The technology is rapidly evolving. We're already transitioning from asking AI questions to asking it to do work on our behalf. That's a major shift in and of itself. Wondering where this AI road will lead us? Log into your favorite streaming service:

• The movie Her offers a glimpse into the human side of AI;
• Black Mirror shows what can happen when technology moves faster than judgment; and
• Minority Report gives an insight into a future where data and prediction become deeply embedded in decision-making.

We're not fully there yet, but parts of that future are already showing up in our current reality. The advisors who accept and engage with this future reality the earliest will be the ones who figure it out the fastest and use these promising tools to differentiate their firms from the pack.

Advisor Coaching Questions From This Article

• Looking at your current daily operations—such as meeting prep, transcription, or follow-up emails—which two labor-intensive workflows are most ripe for an AI 'redesign' within the next 90 days?
• How will you go about measuring the specific capacity or time saved by automating these workflows?
• Where is your team hesitating or resisting change, and what would it take to move from awareness to actual adoption over the next 90 days?
• How aligned is your leadership team on the 'shared language' of AI – specifically regarding its limitations and your firm's policy on data privacy?