Should financial advisors use AI? An expert weighs in

With new research from MDRT finding over 70% of American consumers expect their financial advisors to use artificial intelligence for customer service and operations, one expert says financial professionals cannot afford not to learn the new tech skills needed to keep up.

“What we know already is that, based on the research, clients are ready for AI and they are expecting also from advisors to use AI,” Panos Leledakis, CEO and founder of International Financial Architects Academy, said.

He added that many consumers have embraced the technology and are using AI in different ways themselves. Not only do they expect the same from their financial advisors, but the rapid pace of technological advancement also means “in six months to one year, we are going to deal with a new consumer.”

Consumer acceptance of AI has limitations, as MDRT’s study found many still want the “human touch.” However, Leledakis asserted this must be leveraged in tandem with technology.

“You might have heard that AI will not replace the advisor, for any reason, at least for the next 10 years. I don’t know. But the advisors using AI and cutting-edge technologies will replace the ones that don’t because it’s going to be an unfair advantage for them. You cannot compete anymore,” he said.

Most Americans believe advisors should use AI

According to MDRT’s study, 70.8% of US consumers who have a financial advisor, and 53.4% of those without an advisor, believe advisors should use AI for at least one professional purpose.

That exact professional purpose also makes a difference, as respondents were most comfortable with financial advisors using AI for clerical tasks, chatbots and general client communications.

“I’m sure that they are expecting advisors to give them better service and better customer experience by using AI for administrative tasks like appointment scheduling or document management… They are expecting more quick responses and better customer experience and customer service with tools like that,” Leledakis, who is also an MDRT Top of the Table member, said.

AI chatbots deemed a must

Of the various use cases of AI in financial services, Leledakis suggested AI chatbots are a non-negotiable that insurance advisors “need to deploy in any form.”

MDRT’s study noted this is by far one of the more popular AI applications among Americans, with 31.2% of respondents with a financial advisor and 37.6% of those without supported advisors using AI for 24/7 customer service chatbots.

Leledakis added, however, that this use case can also expand to AI call centers, where a client can call in and interact with a technologically-advanced chatbot through speech.

“It can make a call and discuss with a human-like discussion so you wouldn’t even understand that it’s not a human. Not the old things that say ‘press one, press two, press three’ — a human-like discussion,” he said.

He noted that some of the other major use cases for AI that consumers are comfortable with include:

• Customer service
• Product or policy comparisons
• AI analysis for product recommendations
• Risk profiling and predictive modeling

“Consumers are expecting that some advisors will be enhanced with these kinds of tools, both for the consulting part and the servicing part,” he said.

Consumers still want the human touch

At the same time, MDRT found that Americans don’t completely trust AI for everything. Respondents indicated they are not as comfortable with AI accessing their personal information or being used for tasks such as internal employee onboarding.

Leledakis added that many consumers also rely on human judgment for confirmation and fact-checking, underscoring the continued need for real-life financial professional involvement.

This is why “the future of advising is not just high tech; it’s high tech plus high touch — like emotional touch, like personal touch.”

“They trust, at least for now, more the human judgment-based advice. Like, ‘OK, the AI gave me the framework; it saved me time, it saved the advisor time, we’re better but, in the end, I want the human judgment-based advice,” Leledakis said.

New tech skills are necessary

Consumer trust in human advisors should not be taken for granted, however, as it could well change quickly in the future given the rapid pace of technological development, Leledakis suggested.

Instead, he emphasized that financial professionals must learn new skills needed to use AI or run the risk of being phased out of the picture altogether.

“With the speed that things are changing, we need to create new skills. We need to sit down again like a new school. We cannot afford not to learn new skills and leverage that,” Leledakis said.

To this end, he strongly urged advisors to “embrace technology and create new skills” as quickly as possible to be more productive, save time, create better branding, create business growth and also “deal with this new consumer.”

MDRT (Million Dollar Round Table) is a global trade association founded in 1927 and based in Illinois. It supports financial professionals in over 85 nations and over 700 companies. Its study into AI sentiments of American consumers was conducted between January 30 and February 5, 2025, with a weighted sample of 2,000 Americans. The survey was conducted by Opinium on behalf of MDRT.

IFAAcademy (International Financial Architects) is an organization that provides training, education and resources to financial professionals across the globe. It was founded in 2014 and is based in Greece, with offices in Europe and North America.

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