A majority of advisers in America are now using AI, particularly for employee onboarding and client communications, according to a survey carried out for industry body MDRT.
Its study shows that 82.5% of American advisers say they use generative AI for at least one professional purpose, with male advisers (85.9%) and advisers ages 18‐44 (90.2%) more likely to use it than female advisers (72%) and advisers ages 45 and older (71.8%).
In a statement, MDRT says many financial services professionals are taking advantage of the capabilities AI can offer.
It says that when it comes to how AI programs are used in financial services practices, the majority of American financial advisers and insurance agents (72.6%) have at least some knowledge of how they can use it in their practices.
Among the 82.5% of advisers who used AI for at least one professional purpose, employee onboarding (46.5%), processing employee and/or client data (41.4%), and client communications (40.4%) were the most popular uses.
…it is important for financial services professionals to be at the top of our game when it comes to technological advancements…
Advisers using generative AI in their practices are still relatively new to the tools, with 50.2% of active adopters of the technology using it for less than three months.
On the other hand, the survey shows that even advisers who are not making use of generative AI in their day‐to‐day businesses are interested in learning more about it. Among the advisers not currently using generative AI for any professional purposes, half said they are at least somewhat likely to learn about how they can use it.
Leaning into trust
It is not uncommon for people to be wary of artificial or computer programs as they grow in popularity – but that is not the case when it comes to advisers and generative AI, states MDRT.
A majority of American advisers (73.5%) have at least some trust in these programs for financial services practices, with male advisers (81.6%) and advisers aged 18‐44 (78.9%) more likely to have at least some trust than female advisors (55.1%) and advisers aged 45 and older (68%).
“In the midst of such a digital era, it is important for financial services professionals to be at the top of our game when it comes to technological advancements,” says MDRT President, Greg Gagne.
“Learning to work with generative AI programs will differentiate advisers who will continue growing with the current trends and those who may struggle to play catch up.”
Survey Methodology
This online survey was fielded by G&S Business Communications on behalf of MDRT from October 12 to October 18, 2023, with a sample of 617 US financial services and insurance professionals. The survey sample was balanced to reflect the gender demographics of the financial services profession.