Generative artificial intelligence continues to inspire a lot of interest across many different walks of life, including in financial services.
As in other fields, there are those in financial services who say generative AI has no role in running an advisory practice, given the strict regulatory requirements governing the space and the as-yet unproven nature of the technology when it comes to conveying complex and potentially sensitive information.
There are also those who feel generative AI can and will play an important role in the future of the advisory industry, especially when the technology is carefully managed by a human advisor who can recheck and reshape the information in a way that best serves clients and the practice. This group, though, still voices caution about the capabilities of the current generation of AI tech that is available to the public.
Then there is a third camp, consisting of those who have already embraced generative AI or are seeking to do so within their advisory practice.
To get a sense for how this third group is approaching the use of generative AI, ThinkAdvisor solicited feedback from three advisors who indicated they are already putting the tech to work. They include Sean Rawlings at WealthBound Advisors, a newly formed registered investment advisor in Arizona focused on millennials; Jason Hamilton at Keep It Simple Financial Planning in Los Angeles; and Mark Wilson at MILE Wealth Management in Irvine, California.
Generative AI in its current state can be useful across a number of practice management functions, these advisors say, though they are cautious about putting it directly to work in the provision of fiduciary advice.
Ultimately, the advisors argue, it is worth an advisor's time to at least keep abreast of the latest developments around generative AI — even if they don't decide to put the tools to work right now. Doing so will help advisors understand where the technology is heading and how future iterations and use cases could disrupt longstanding practices in the advisor industry.
Client Meeting Summaries and Marketing Materials
Hamilton says he has been using generating AI over the last 10 months or so, and where he has found the technology most useful is with client meeting summaries and marketing materials.
"The client meeting summary tools have allowed me to more deeply focus on listening to the client instead of writing notes," Hamilton explains. "And the marketing use has allowed the expansion of my message — with less [work] and writers block."
Specifically, Hamilton is using a program called Cogram to generate meeting summaries and transcripts, and he is using ChatGPT-4 to write long-form content that can be repurposed through multiple platforms.
Other programs he has found useful so far are WordAI, which can rewrite AI-written content to better ensure originality, and Opus Pro, which can take long-form video content and create shorter, edited clips to share across social media.
"The way I see AI is not to replace the human aspect of business but to expand on it," Hamilton adds.
Hamilton suggests advisors should play around with different tools and figure out a workflow that works for them. For example, one might start a conversation with a ChatGPT prompt to inspire ideas, such as the following: "You're a top copywriter at a marketing agency specialized in helping financial advisors. Ask me everything you would need to know about my retirement planning firm to help me create marketing content that is inspiring, educational, motivational and helpful to prospects planning to retire in five years or less."
The advisor can then answer all the questions ChatGPT gives, using specifics about their unique approach to the business.
"From here ChatGPT will give you a nearly endless amount of content ideas," Hamilton explains. "Once you have this content, you can have ChatGPT write you blogs, video scripts or social media posts. You can take the content produced and tailor it to your needs. Start by creating a blog and take that blog and turn it into a video script, and then record a short video on Facebook Live."
Using AI tools, the advisor can then take the Facebook Live video and have it edited and posted again to Facebook, YouTube and any other platform, potentially using advertising budgets and scheduling of posts to ensure their content is regularly showing up on prospective clients' discovery pages.
