'AI will be as transformative as the internet'

Speaking to FT Adviser, Zietara discussed how he was “extremely optimistic” about AI and explained how it was being adopted in the advice space in Australia and how it could transform advice in the UK.

Zietara said there were two main areas that AI was being implemented in the advice sector in Australia which included content creation and support processes.

He said: “There are quite a few outsourced paraplanning businesses in Australia, as there are in the UK, that are already using AI models to generate advice documents and letters to clients from quite succinct context. 

“AI is also used in the recording of client meetings which can be uploaded to an AI model that returns a summary and creates documented file notes which would otherwise take a lot of time for an adviser to summarise.”

Zietara pointed out AI’s current role is centred around support and ancillary processes that go into generating advice rather than the core advice itself.

He said: “There are very good precedents in the medical field where AI models read MRIs and CAT scans, not for a reliable diagnosis but as another input and a checkpoint for a medical practitioner to use. 

“That will be the next iteration of AI, whereby it can assist in generating advice but it’s not ready to be the sole source.”

Zietara said if AI was going to fulfil its true potential it would need to surpass some of its limitations.

“For example, AI in its current form doesn’t really enhance core planning in any material way yet, and crucially, it can still make mistakes which can cause serious issues in tightly regulated markets,” he added. 

Regulation and AI 

Zietara believed creating effective regulation is key to unlocking future innovation and encouraging widespread adoption of AI particularly in terms of advice. 

He said: “Under Australian law you have to be able to reverse engineer your processes to clearly demonstrate how you have arrived at a particular answer when offering digital advice.

“The problem with AI is that, by its very nature, it is a closed system which is capable of learning from itself so there’s no obvious audit trail to show the regulator.

"That’s one key regulatory issue we will have to solve if AI is going to increase in use, scope and scale.”

Zietara pointed out that in Australia, regulators are considering adopting a sandbox approach to allow firms to innovate outside of regulation in a controlled way but expressed it was still “early days”.

Digital advice 

Zietara felt there was “absolutely a future” for AI in digital advice and could be hugely beneficial to tackling things like the advice gap in the UK and Australia.

“AI will play a very active role in the future of digital advice in terms of client engagement and asking clarifying questions in a natural, conversational way. AI is far better at dealing with ambiguity than traditional algorithms so there’s certainly space for it to add more value to savers,” he added.

He also said there was “no doubt” AI would go beyond just providing additional support services in financial services but a key factor for this would need to be regulatory acceptance. 

“I believe the regulation will ultimately need to catch-up with the speed of innovation and that is something that has happened historically, particularly in terms of digital advice.

“As things stand, AI is limited to support services – like helpdesk enquiries – and processes that go into generating advice but I believe the financial services landscape is definitely ready to embrace artificial intelligence in 2024 and beyond,” he expressed.

Adviser efficiency

Zietara believed advisers in the UK should fully embrace AI because ultimately it would make them “far more efficient”.

He said: “The advice experience in 2024 is still quite inefficient and there is a lot of room for improvement, for instance in data gathering and onboarding new customers, both of which can be time consuming. 

“There are many areas in which an AI model may be able to radically improve speed and this is something I think advisers everywhere should be embracing.”

Zietara also explained that from a pure business perspective, AI can help reduce the cost of producing advice, while increasing the capacity to produce it.

He also believed AI could increase advisers creativity by being able to write in particular styles allowing the adviser to tailor their content more quickly and easily to their audience, particularly if they know there is a certain way their client prefers to communicate.

However Zietara warned: “It’s important to remember also that AI is not infallible, so advisers do need to check everything. The buck stops with the adviser, whoever writes or generates the content. 

“It’s an extremely exciting time, but one in which we need to exercise slight caution to ensure we create the right conditions, regulation and industry collaboration to bring the full benefits of AI to advisers and the wealth management sector at large.”

alina.khan@ft.com