Generative AI is becoming a game-changing efficiency tool for financial advisors, who are increasingly embracing it for everything from predictive analytics to summarizing meeting notes.
According to research by wealthtech provider Advisor360°, 85% of advisors call Gen AI a “help” to their practice, an increase from 64% in 2024. Advisor360° reports that 76% have had immediate benefits from using tools enabled by Gen AI.
The findings, in Advisor360°’s 2025 Connected Wealth Report, are based on surveys of 300 financial advisors at enterprise wealth management firms in the U.S. Advisors’ attitudes toward AI and Gen AI have undergone a clear shift compared to a year ago.
For example, a year ago, 21% of advisors called Gen AI a potential “threat” to their livelihood, compared with 8% now. Only 9% of advisors said they don’t use any Gen AI tools.
“Advisors are hungry for Gen AI-enabled tools that can boost their business,” Advisor360° President Darren Tedesco said in a news release. “From administrative assistance and prospecting to predictive analytics, advisors understand that Gen AI has the potential to transform their business in ways that simply did not exist a few years ago. The rate of Gen AI adoption in the wealth management industry is unprecedented compared to other tech advances over the last several decades.”
Wealth management firms using Gen AI are establishing usage guardrails, with 82% of advisors surveyed reporting their firms have formal policies about Gen AI, compared with 53% in 2024.
“As with any technology, firms are on the hook to ensure that data privacy and security protocols are in place and enforced when it comes to their AI-enabled tools,” Tedesco said. “This also means paying close attention to AI vendors to ensure their use of data passes regulatory muster.”
However, most financial advisors stay away from Gen AI when developing personalized financial plans, with 29% of respondents saying they have leveraged AI-enabled tools for this. Advisors say they mostly use Gen AI for predictive analytics, marketing and summarizing meeting notes.
“Advisors prefer to be hands-on when it comes to tasks that are core to client service,” said Tedesco. “For now, using Gen AI to create financial plans appears to be a bridge too far, in part because of compliance concerns.”
Despite the increasing reliance on AI, financial advisors have qualms about the tech they currently use, with 65% saying it needs improvement. Bad data and a lack of integrated tools are top technology concerns for a third consecutive year. Advisors find most fault with their firms’ financial planning tools and digital onboarding capabilities.
And 57% say they have acquired new clients because of another advisor’s bad technology, while 85% who report having “state of the art” technology say they have won clients due to a competitor’s outdated platform.
Part of Advisor360°’s Connected Wealth Report research series, the study surveyed 300 financial advisors at enterprise wealth management firms across the U.S. Survey participants self-identified as being responsible for managing, on average, $2 billion in assets – individually or as part of a team – and were with a firm with an average AUM of $103 billion.
