“When wielded with care and responsibility, AI has the power to amplify expertise, unlock efficiencies and enhance the value financial advisors bring to their clients,” said CFP Board CEO Kevin R. Keller, CAE, in a news release. “The Generative AI Ethics Guide helps CFP professionals integrate AI into their practices while staying true to CFP Board’s Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct.”
The board notes that generative AI can boost efficiency, allowing advisors to focus on aspects of their practice that AI can’t handle, including as improving client relationships and enhancing personalized value for clients. The guide lists practical steps that CFP professionals can take to address concerns about privacy, data integrity and potential biases.
While AI can help with tasks like research and content refinement, the guide notes that it can’t replace a financial professional’s expertise, judgment and care. Investors have more confidence in AI-generated advice after a financial planner verifies it, according to CFP Board’s Consumer Sentiment Survey — Trust, But Verify.
The guide includes a checklist to help verify the accuracy of AI-generated output, safeguard confidentiality and comply with privacy laws. It stresses that financial professionals need to confirm that the use of AI does not jeopardize integrity or cause conflicts of interest.
CFP Board announced that it will form an external AI Working Group this year that will convene financial and technology leaders to map out future initiatives and programs. The group will explore how AI is transforming financial planning and its implications for firms, advisors, clients and stakeholders across the financial advice industry. The Working Group is tasked to assess AI’s impact, develop future scenarios and provide actionable recommendations to help ensure that CFP Board and its stakeholders navigate this evolving landscape ethically and responsibly while harnessing AI’s full potential.
The guide notes that its recommendations are for general-use “off-the-shelf” generative AI platforms, both free and paid, and not for custom-built programs.
It lists appropriate uses by financial professionals:
Gathering information about a client, such as taking client meeting notes and summarizing client meetings and documents
Doing initial research to assess investments and strategies that would be in a client’s best interests
Creating ideas to build or improve a brand, such as suggesting business names
The guide notes that CFPs must follow the same ethical guidelines when using AI that they are required to adhere to in other aspects of their practices, including confidentiality and privacy, integrity, compliance with the law, and their duties when communicating with a client, including providing accurate information.
The guide presents a comprehensive set of guidelines for using generative AI, including:
Before using generative AI, perform due diligence on the vendor or have a reasonable basis to believe the firm has performed appropriate due diligence.
Evaluate AI output for accuracy, completeness, inappropriate bias, and conflicts of interest, such as recommendation of a product that benefits the advisor or firm.
Before entering client information, be sure to choose a generative AI program that has privacy
protection mechanisms, such as data encryption.
Ensure compliance with laws and regulations regarding client information, especially privacy regulations.
Consider, and when appropriate, adopt additional privacy protection mechanisms, including using pseudonyms and anonymization to remove confidential information before uploading materials.
Confirm that the AI platform stores output in compliance with recordkeeping regulations.
Confirm that the AI vendor has committed to giving notice of data breaches.
Inform clients about the use of generative AI, either through an updated privacy policy or a separate disclosure.
Get client consent before recording meetings.
Confirm the output’s accuracy, completeness and reliability. This can be accomplished by testing the platform using a sample data set.
Before publishing materials such as articles, social media posts and marketing materials created with AI assistance, verify that the platform allows publication of the output; reviewed sources cited in the output to ensure accuracy; and ensure there are no infringements of intellectual property..
Develop a plan to review platform updates, and reevaluate the platform output for accuracy
