Artificial intelligence poses both the biggest opportunity and biggest challenge to the advice industry, although adoption remains low, new research from Unbiased has revealed.
When asked about the top upcoming challenges for the profession, AI and automation came first (29%), ahead of rising business costs (16%) and client acquisition and retention (13%).
However, more than half (56%) of advisers believe AI has the potential to support their business in the future. Despite this, many advisers have yet to adopt it. Just two fifths (39%) of those surveyed currently use AI in any form within their business.
For those who are using AI, administration and back-office tasks were the most common use (36%), followed by client communication (14%) and financial planning and reporting (12%). Just 5% of advisers currently use AI for lead generation.
Matt Cockayne, chief revenue officer at Unbiased, said: “AI is moving fast and financial advice firms that don’t engage with it risk falling behind.
“Right now, most use cases are focussed on back-office efficiency, but the real opportunity lies in how AI can improve client engagement and drive business growth as a multiplying factor.
“There’s clearly an appetite for innovation, but also hesitation, especially in a profession built on trust and human relationships. That’s why adoption depends on building tools that advisers find intuitive, compliant, and genuinely useful in practice.”
Looking ahead to the future, administration remains the most cited area of potential for AI (19%). However, advisers also see opportunities across marketing (15%), financial planning (12%), lead generation (12%) and sales and prospect nurturing (11%).
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