Will AI Replace Financial Advisors?
AI (Artificial Intelligence) has been increasingly in the news, on social media, and whether you like it or not, a part of your everyday life. Much of AI is a great thing, with AI programs capable of identifying potential cancer cells long before human radiologists can see it. Other uses of AI are the scary bots phishing for your personal information in email inboxes and text messages.
With all the capabilities of AI technology, the question becomes “will AI replace Financial Advisors?”. When posed exactly that question ChatGPT, OpenAI’s chatbot said:
There are a number of reasons that AI simply cannot replace Financial Advisors like Meridian Financial Partners.
Building Relationships: As advisors, we want to build long-term relationships with our clients. For most individuals, money and finance evokes strong emotions that AI can’t empathize with. We hope to be part of our client’s entire financial life and to celebrate all the major life transitions, be it graduation, buying a first home, starting a family, or retiring. We are always happy to celebrate the wins, we are also here for our clients when life doesn’t go according to plan. We are here to provide emotional support and guidance to navigate all parts of your financial journey.
More Than Numbers: Here at Meridian we care about our clients. We know that financial planning is so much more than just the numbers. It is understanding our clients goals, comfort levels, and time horizons and building a strategy to achieve those. Further, we know that things change. Which is why your financial plan is a living, breathing document that should be updated annually or as needed when life happens. AI can help analyze data but cannot replace the human element of financial planning and the nuances of individual situations.
Robots Can’t be Fiduciaries: The financial industry is heavily regulated, and as fiduciary advisors we operate within those laws and regulations, and with a legal obligation to act in the best interest of our clients. There are limits to AI’s knowledge base, its processing of laws and how it understands individual needs. Simply, a robot cannot be a fiduciary.
Accurate Information: ChatGPT and other AI programs can offer some information and advisement when you ask financial questions, they also may draw on false resources. As a cautionary tale on the importance of verifying the information, an attorney in New York is hot water for using ChatGPT to conduct legal research and ended up citing a several made up cases in a court filing. If you want to read more about that, check it our here.
Outside of Meridian, I am a professional photographer, specializing in sports. I take thousands of photos, select the best ones, and carefully edit them. Sometimes, I worry that cell phones and robots might replace that role. But the truth is, the human touch and seeing the moments as they happen in something that robots haven’t caught up to! See a few of my favorite moments that I have captured below.
