Does AI have a role in client meetings?

Speaking at a Striver Brimstone event in Sydney last week, Iress head of customer office Alexander Klomp said AI in financial advice doesn’t need to be limited to just back office tasks, explaining that an Iress client is already using the technology in the delivery of advice.

“What I mean by that is they don't actually meet with their clients when they deliver the advice anymore, at all,” Klomp said.

“You can do video AI now, you plug in basically … a script or what you want it to say, it will produce a video of him delivering the actual recommendation.

“He's found that it's actually better for him to be able to create a video of him delivering those recommendations through a generated AI video, and then if you want to accept recommendations, the client will just say yes. If they want to speak to him, he'll then set up a meeting.”

This process, Klomp argued, opens up the number of clients that advisers can take on as it significantly cuts back on the number of client meetings that they need to attend.

“Now he's in a situation where instead of being limited by the number of meetings he has in his calendar, the literal time he has in his day, he might have met … 40 to 50 clients in a week, and delivered advice to that number of clients,” he said.

“He's got north of 95 per cent acceptance rate on his advice recommendations without them ever saying I ant to talk to you and follow up, or I need something clarified, literally, just the generative AI video of himself delivering what is in the SOA.”

Klomp added that the AI is not devising the actual strategies, it simply takes over the process of delivering it to the client.

“It's just the presentation portion. That means he is now not limited by himself being in the room for the meeting. I think that's fascinating,” he said.

However, Apt Wealth Partners senior financial adviser Robert Greig, also speaking at the event, cautioned against moving to such an AI-heavy advice model.

“I'm in the business of relationships. It's fascinating, and again this is the opportunity with advice, there are so many different ways to deliver the advice,” Greig said.

“At this stage, I can never see myself doing that, [but] it is very interesting.

“We’re essentially selling peace of mind and being able to explain the advice and check the advice as correct, as has been mentioned before. AI is there to support us at the moment, I don’t ever see it replacing me as an adviser to our clients.”