AI in Practice: AI's Ironic Twist

If you and your team are embracing today’s technology, you are likely already seeing the benefits. AI is creating new capacity—helping you serve clients more efficiently, more consistently, and more comprehensively. It’s also freeing up time to increase the cadence of client communication, deepen client connectivity, and attract new clients.

So where’s the twist?

Your clients also have these tools at their fingertips.

Many are now turning to their favorite AI application for guidance on everything, including life decisions and investing. My son recently designed an addition to his home without an architect. My wife and I created what we think could be a publishable children’s book without hiring an illustrator. We all have stories like these. AI is making us more capable, informed, and confident.

And that’s the irony.

The same technology that is expanding your capabilities also is expanding your clients’ independence. It is commoditizing access to information and insights, which were once your differentiators.

So much of your differentiation shows up in your client’s living, breathing financial plan.

• Do you make it dance?
• How well do you connect it to who your clients are and their evolving life priorities?
• Are you using it as a static document or as the backdrop for your ongoing client conversations?

Now consider the prospective client.

If they are already getting investment answers from AI, your opportunity is not to compete at that level—it is to rise above it.

Effective differentiation today requires going meta.

Acknowledge the “consensus” view they’ve gathered. Then elevate the conversation beyond it—offering context, nuance, and second-order insights that AI cannot easily replicate, at least not yet.

Bottom line: To become immune to AI’s ironic twist, be intentional about where you live in both the minds and hearts of your clients.

AI in Practice
AI in Practice is a new Advisor Institute program dedicated to helping financial advisors navigate and capitalize on the rapid rise of artificial intelligence from both an investment and practice management perspective.